


Harry Potter One Shots

by AFallenAngel121



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-01-01 04:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 55,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18328793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AFallenAngel121/pseuds/AFallenAngel121
Summary: Hello All! New story alert.I am now doing Harry Potter One Shots. Now they will be one shots to do with the Harry Potter characters, so the ships we all know and love. If you would like to request a ship one shot then please private mail myself or comment under this to state who you want, and if there is any specific scenario you would like too.Enjoy!





	1. Request Form

Hello!  
These one shots will be based on character ships from Harry Potter, so if you'd like one then just fill in this request form and submit it in comments. 

No requests for mature content please.

Name (who is the request for) -  
Characters -  
Scenario -  
Anything Else? -

Thank you!

 


	2. Broken Promises - Harry and Ginny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry forgets about a date with Ginny...Again

Ginny glanced at the watch on her hand, it had just gone past 8pm and he was still not home. She knew that her husband's job was important, he was an Auror for crying out loud! But this was the second time he was either running late or had forgotten about their date. Ginny sighed, she should probably expect an exhausted Harry Potter to return home and immediately want to go to bed. She understood, she really did, being an Auror took a lot of time being away from home and being away from family. It was still frustrating though.

With another glance at her watch Ginny slid of her black heels and put them back into the hall before going up the wooden staircase and into the bathroom. She didn't want to make Harry's return home from work any harder so she was trying, key word there being trying, to not be angry and run Harry a bath.

She poured in the various concoction of bubble bath that she knew Harry liked and conjoured a glass of firewhiskey from the kitchen before going back downstairs, she grabbed her abandoned muggle novel from the armchair, perched herself back into her favourite spot on the sofa and delved back into her book.

Another hour had passed before the fireplace suddenly grew green with the floo flames, and sure enough out stepped an exhausted looking Harry Potter. At first he didn't notice Ginny curled up in the corner silently reading her book, he fell onto the second sofa which was placed against the wall and let out a tired sigh. Ginny peaked up from her book, although she was still quite angry her heart softened as she saw her exhausted husband finally have a chance to rest.

"Hard day at work?"

Harry's eyes flew open at the sound of her voice and he sat up straighter, his eyes finally taking in Ginny and what she was wearing. She had been dressed in an emerald green dress, her hair hanging in loose curls and light red lipstick to complete the look. "The worst, I'll tell you about it soon" Harry smiled sadly. Ginny nodded and returned to her book, waiting to see if he had remembered after all.

"Ginny?"

"Yes"

"I am really sorry" Harry moved over beside her, tucking one of the loose curls behind her ear. Ginny looked over at him, pursing her lips.

"I didn't mean to forget, of course I know no one means to forget anything. You know how this job is and I know it's tough on you with me being gone for so long sometimes, especially when I have to go overseas"

Ginny nodded and sighed, once again placing her novel down on the arm of the chair. "Listen Harry, I understand. I really do. It's just this was the second time. I know I shouldn't really be annoyed, I know what I was getting myself into when you got the job at the Ministry. But I can't help but be sad and hurt, the last time this happened it was because of that oaf Dolohov escaping from Azkaban. I do just wish though that you would remember our dates" She sighed

Harry felt his heart ache, he had never meant to forget their date and this time he really had no excuse. He had gotten behind in his paperwork after his last arrest, once he had started the work he had gotten into a rhythm and before he knew it he had been more than an hour late for their date. He opened his mouth to speak again but Ginny just shook her had.

"Listen, it's not the first or last time that you've broken a promise to me saying that you'd make it up to me again. But you know I can't stay mad at you, even though I want to" Ginny smiled. "There's a bath upstairs with a nice glass of firewhiskey there too to help you relax, and when you're ready, I'll be waiting down here for you" She placed a gentle kiss on his cheek before picking up her novel and beginning to read again.

"You are the most wonderful and understanding witch I have ever known Ginevra" Harry grinned and practically ran out the door before hearing Ginny's voice calling out him.

"Harry?"

"Yes?" He yelled back from halfway up the stairs

"If you ever call me Ginevra again, I will not hesitate to put a bat bogey hex on you!" Ginny smirked when he fell silent for a moment

Harry wrinkled his nose, he definitely had not forgotten the last time she had used that hex on him but he certainly did not want it happening again. "Yes dear!" With that Harry ran into the bathroom, quickly disrobed and slipped into the hot bath that was waiting for him while sipping on his Fire Whiskey, he really did have the best wife.

 


	3. A Misunderstanding - Charlie and Hermione

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie thinks Fred and Hermione are together and he's not happy

Charlie hummed softly as he pushed the bag of presents under his bed, he had been out shopping all day to find the perfect presents for his and Hermione's anniversary, tomorrow marked their two year anniversary and what a wonderful two years it had been. He closed his bedroom door softly and uttered a silent spell to put a locking charm on it, he just knew that Hermione couldn't control her curiosity and wanted to snoop a little sometimes

Speaking of Hermione, Charlie paused in the hallway as he heard what sounded like her voice, he followed the voice until it brought him to Fred and George's room. He raised an eyebrow, just what on earth could Hermione be doing in the twin's bedroom? He pressed an ear against the door, only hearing silence for a moment or two before Hermione let out an audible gasp.

"Oh Fred...It's huge" She sighed

Charlie's eyes almost bulged out of his skull, just what could be so big that Hermione was so in awe like that?

Fred chuckled huskily, "Why thanks bookworm, that's a mighty high compliment of you"

Charlie gulped, suddenly feeling like his feet were now stuck to the hallway floor. He pressed his ear even harder to the door if that was possible. He just hoped it wasn't what he thought it was.

"But...Will it fit" Hermione's eyes widened at the sight in Fred's hands, she had hoped that it would be big but she could never have imagined just how big it could actually be.

Fred let out a hearty laugh, ignoring the obvious blush that now crossed Hermione's face. "Of course it's going to fit Mione. Why wouldn't it?"

Hermione shrugged, "It's just...it's frighteningly huge. I don't know how that would be able to fit in anywhere"

"Well" Fred started, "Why don't we try fit it into..."

And before Fred could even finish his sentence Charlie barged into the room, ignoring the two startled look on their faces, he didn't even notice that Hermione hastily waved her wand. "What in the name of Merlin's left behind is going on in here?!" Charlie yelled, anger and jealously flowing through his veins, he glanced at Hermione's shocked face and slowly felt the betrayal sinking into him.

"What are you talking about Charlie?" Hermione raised her eyebrow, feeling slightly angry herself as Charlie had almost ruined his surprised.

"You...and...Fred" Charlie spat, his face now turning a hideous shade of red.

Fred and Hermione glanced at each other, not entirely following Charlie's train of thought. Fred glanced at his brother worriedly and took a step towards him but jumped immediately bank as Charlie pointed his wand towards him. "Oi!" Fred yelled, raising his hands in the air. Hermione took a a step on front of Fred, the anger now rising in her as she stared her boyfriend down.

"Charlie Gideon Weasley, you put that wand down. Right now" She hissed

Charlie blinked, he hadn't been aware of what he had been doing, it had been more instinct, you were used to it in the reserve when the dragons were sneaky and tried to catch you off guard. He mumbled incoherently and stuffed his wand back in his pockets. Hermione crossed her arms, and glared at him. "Just what did you think Fred and I were doing?"

Charlie gulped, there were only two things in life he feared. One was the dragons, as much as he loved them he wasn't stupid, they were one of the most dangerous animals in the world. And second, his girlfriend especially when she had anger in her eyes. "Uh...Well" Charlie coughed, standing up straighter and looking her straight in the eye. "Well it sounded like you two were about to get it on in here! With what I heard outside the door" He muttered

Hermione and Fred glanced at each other, just wondering how on earth Charlie came to that conclusion; it was only silent for a moment before they both broke out into gales of laughter much to Charlie's annoyance. His frown deepened as his ears reddened, not only was he was furious but also humiliated by his own brother and girlfriend. "Charlie..." Hermione shook her head and reached into her beaded bag that was lying at the bottom of her foot. "Even though I am quite offended that you would think I would ever cheat on you, and why would you ever think I would cheat on you with your brother. Fred was helping me with one of my presents for you" She smiled, even though there was still a hint of anger in her eyes.

Charlie froze, how he wish the ground would just open up and swallow him whole, he was such an idiot for ever thinking that Hermione would do something like that to him! He blushed furiously and shifted uncomfortably, "Hermione, Fred. I'm sorry" He whispered, "I should have known that neither of you would do something like that."

Hermione shook her head, pulling out a piece of parchment she waved her wand so it grew back to the full size. Charlie's eyes widened, now he could see what Hermione had meant. The parchment was almost the size of the back wall of Fred's room. And on it was one of his favourite dragons, the Chinese Firebolt, it was a wizard painting of course so the Dragon was moving curiously around the painting, occasionally shooting out a ball of flames.

"Hermione..." Charlie whispered, tears pricking at his eyes, this was truly the best present he had received in a long time. "It's beautiful"

Hermione smiled, "I'm glad you like it. I know it's your favourite dragon, plus if you recognise the birthmark on the side of its leg there"

Charlie inched closer to the parchment to inspect it and sure enough he saw the all too familiar of the dragon from his reserve, the dragon that he had hatched from an egg and acted like the Mother while it grew up. "It's Ludo"

Hermione nodded, gazing at the dragon with a soft smile. "I know how much you've missed him since leaving the reserve so I owled one of your colleagues, Jack, who was more than happy to paint this for you. He knows how much you love that dragon. So he sent it over to meand the parchment was only the size of a small sheet so I asked Fred for help because I didn't want to use an engorgio charm on it in case it ruined the paint or tore the parchment. Fred helped create a charm to enlarge the parchment so nothing was ruined. When you heard me saying 'it's huge' I was referring to the parchment because I didn't know how big Fred actually made it" Hermione laughed a little, feeling a little amused at the situation.

"Wow" Charlie scratched the back of his neck, not knowing what to say

"Wow, the dragon tamer speechless. That's a first" Fred chuckled, ignoring the glare he received from his brother. Instead of retorting back Charlie took one stride over to Hermione, picked her up and planted a passionate kiss on her.

"Oi! Get a room you two" Fred barked, this time dodging the quick hand of Charlie with a grin. "Just trying to diffuse the tension" He teased

Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered "Boys". She twisted herself out of Charlie's arms and sauntered towards the door before looking back over her shoulder. "Charlie?"

"Yes dear" Charlie smiled

"You're still in my bad books" Hermione winked

Charlie blinked, his heart hammering inside his chest as he caught on to what she meant, the pink tinge returning to his cheeks. He coughed a little and glanced at Fred who looked bemused yet confused also. "Witches" Charlie grinned, "They say the darnest things" He laughed before running out after Hermione

 


	4. Friendship - Snape and Lily

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snape meets Lily

Snape peered from around the tree he was hiding behind, staring at the two young girls with keen interest. The smaller of the girls had bright orange hair, from what he could tell she was slightly pale, her back was facing him but he could still see that she was trying to show the other girl something. The second girl was the taller of the two, possibly older than her but not by much. She had mud brown hair and her nose looked slightly too long for her face.

"You're a freak!" Snape was shocked at the girl's words, wondering what on earth could have happened to make her feel like that. "I'm telling Mummy that you're a freak!" And with that the girl with brown hair ran off towards a couple who were sitting on a bench nearby. He pondered for a moment if he should approach her or not, but what would he say? _I was just watching you from behind this tree._ That would come off as too creepy. He took a step back, unsure on whether he should approach her or not but as he stepped back his foot made contact with a branch which then snapped. He froze in place as the girl turned around, meeting his gaze. Snape's eyes lowered to what was in her hand. She held a small daisy in the palm of her hand, but it wasn't just sitting there. It was hovering as if it was being held up by an imaginary piece of string. He realised then that the girl who ran off was afraid

Afraid of the magic that this girl held.

Snape smiled slightly at her, trying to tell her not to be afraid, he pulled a few leaves from the branch just above his head and held his hand out to her, allowing the leaves to fly gently towards her and falling in the palm of her hand.

Lily looked down in surprise, she hadn't meant for the boy to see what she was doing, she had just been so hurt and annoyed at Petunia's reaction that when she heard a noise behind her it took her by surprise. But seeing the leaves fall in her hand gave her a sense of warmth and relief. Relief at the fact that maybe she wasn't a freak and that she wasn't the only one with these powers. After a few moments the young boy, who appeared to be the same age as her, finally approached her, an apprehensive smile on his face.

"Hello, I'm Severus. Severus Snape"

"Lily. Lily Evans"

Lily smiled at him and outstretched her hand, with no hesitation Snape shook it. Something about this girl didn't make him feel afraid, the kindness she was showing him was better than anything he could ever ask for. "Sorry about your friend" He shoved his hands in his pockets, starting to walk towards the lake in the hope that she would follow, and to his surprise, she did.

"Oh, you saw that" Lily sighed, holding the daisy close to her chest. "That was my sister, Petunia. She doesn't like it when I do stuff like that but..."

"You can't help it" Snape finished, flashing a caring smile towards her. "I understand, I do. I know what it feels like to be thought of as a freak. But you're not a freak. And you're sister, she doesn't understand. She's jealous, because she's ordinary and you're special"

"That's mean Severus" But Lily smiled anyway, it felt nice to be called special. Even by a young boy she barely even knew.

Snape shrugged, "It's the truth. You'll learn all about it in time, and I'm sure we'll both be attending Hogwarts together. It would be nice to have someone there I know"

Lily's eyebrows furrowed, "Hogwarts? What's that?"

Snape glanced at her, feeling confused himself. "You don't know what Hogwarts is?"

Lily shook her head, "I'm the only witch in the family, at least I think so. My Mum and Dad had no idea I had powers until the day I accidentally locked Petunia in a dog's house at my Aunt's house" She giggled at the memory, from what she could remember was that Petunia had been annoying her very much that day, and she couldn't bare to take it anymore. She had clenched her fists and next thing she knew was that Petunia was stuck in the dog house. Her father had to break the dog house apart and rebuild it again after they got her out.

"Oh, you must be muggle born then" Snape sighed and glanced towards the lake again, it wasn't that he had anything against muggleborns. It had never met one before, but his father made them out to be horrid people that wanted to steal the magic from the pure blood wizard families.

"What's a muggle born?"

Snape couldn't help but laugh at her curiosity, she was so intriguing. "You'll find out soon enough, and about Hogwarts too. I don't know how it works for you, getting the letter and everything. But Dumbledore will find a way" He smiled, "Dumbledore is the Headmaster of Hogwarts" Snape chuckled again, after he finished his sentence he had practically seen the cogs turning in her head and just knew it was a matter of time before she asked another question.

"Oh, okay then"

With that they fell into a nice silence, neither of them felt the urge to speak for a while until they got to the lake. The sun was getting lower in the sky so it was casting a nice hue of colours in the sky, a mix of orange and pink. It was Lily who broke the silence first.

"Thank you for making me feel better Severus" Lily smiled, holding out the daisy for him to take

Snape glanced at it for a moment before taking it into his own palm, "You don't need to take me. Friends are here to make you feel better, always"

"Always" Lily agreed, "And do you think of us as friends Severus?"

"I think we will be. I'd like to get to know you more Lily" Snape smiled, for the first time in his life he felt like he belonged and that he had a purpose. Someone was finally willing to be his friend. He just hoped that it would last. He wanted to fit in and maybe with Lily she could help him do that.

"Good, I think so too" Lily grinned.

"Lily! Come on dear, we're going now!" Lily glanced back up to where her father now stood, with Petunia by his side who was glaring at the two young friends with disdain and disgust.

Lily sighed, looking back at Snape with a sad look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I have to get going now. But it was nice to meet you Severus, can we meet here again sometime?"

Snape nodded in excitement, hoping that he didn't seem too eager to meet up with her again. "I would like that Lily, next time I can bring some of my books so you can see what we'll be learning"

"Then its a plan to me! Tomorrow, at noon. Right here?"

"Tomorrow at noon" Snape agreed

"See you then, Severus. Goodbye!" Lily waved him at before running back up the hill towards her father.

Snape clutched the small daisy in his hand, sighing in content that he had finally managed to make one friend. And it didn't hurt that she was also pretty, very pretty. "Goodbye Lily" Snape smiled to himself as he walked home, not even the thought of returning home to his father could ruin his happiness. For once, Snape could truly say he was happy.

 


	5. You're A Witch, Hermione - Hermione Granger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione finds out she's a Witch

Summer 1991 -

It was the summer of 1991, a young 11 year old girl by the name of Hermione Jean Granger was busy sitting inside to escape the heat. It had been one of the hottest summers record in history and Hermione could not handle the heat for many reasons, however there were two very specific reasons she preferred to spend the most of her time inside, cuddle up with a book. Her hair and the girls from her school. She had extremely bushy hair, and whenever the humidity got to her it made her look like she had been electrocuted. Hermione longed for the days of when she was older and she would be able to do anything with her hair.

Her hair and teeth were the main reasons why she got tortured and tormented at school, most days she would come home from school and lock herself in her room for however long it took to stop crying. Her Mother and Father didn't know, she didn't want to upset them or cause them any embarrassment. She knew her Mother and Father loved her, they always told her every morning before school and every evening before she went to bed.

Books were Hermione's escape, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, any book she could get her hands on always transported her into a different world and it was the most exhilarating feeling. She was a keen learner and eager to impress anyone she met with her knowledge and facts. To Hermione, being smart and trying to own that no matter what anyone said, gave her a sense of purpose. She wanted to be as bright as possible.

So it came to no surprise when Hermione's Mother, Monica, found her young daughter curled up on the sofa with a book in her hands. "Hermione, dear? Why are you inside on such a lovely day?"

Hermione tore her eyes away from her book to meet the eyes of her concerned Mother, she shrugged. "I just prefer reading Mum. Books can't hurt you" she whispered, dropping her eyes back to the book to pick up where she left off so she didn't have to look at her Mum.

"Whatever do you me--"

A loud knock on the door stopped Monica Granger in her tracks, she pursed her lips, just wondering who would be calling. "I'll be right back" She gave her daughter a smile before disappearing back into the hallway to answer the door.

Hermione sighed and closed her book, just knowing that she would soon be in for having an interesting conversation with her Mother, she really did need to learn when to stop talking. She could hear whispers in the hallway before the door was shut gently, followed by footsteps shuffling and heading towards the living room again. Hermione looked up in time to find her Mother walking back in closely followed by an older, stern looking woman who was wearing what seemed to be a Halloween outfit.

The curiosity of Hermione got the better of her and she couldn't help but blurt out, "Mum? Why is that woman wearing a fancy dress costume?"

Monica's eyes widened in surprise at how blunt her daughter just was, "Hermione" She whispered, "You don't ask that to strangers, or judge them on what they are wearing"

Hermione felt her cheeks go warm at the chastising her Mother gave her, "I'm sorry Mum, I didn't mean to be rude" Her eyes flicked over to the older woman and she smiled, "I'm sorry to you aswell, I hope I didn't offend you"

The older woman nodded, not allowing her stern facade to break, but as she observed this young Muggleborn she couldn't help but feel there was something special about her. She would definitely fit in at Hogwarts, maybe not right away but she would. "Thank you for the apology Miss Granger"

Monica looked back at their visitor with such vigor, that she may have just gotten whiplash. "Oh, I'll just go get my Husband, excuse me for a moment and please do sit down" She smiled warmly before disappearing through the door once again, this time calling out to her husband.

The stranger took Monica's advice and sat down on the armchair in the chair, directly facing Hermione. It was silent, and Hermione couldn't tell if it was awkward or a nice silence. She was trying to read the older woman's face to find a hint of if she was there to give them good news or bad news, but the woman had such a perfect poker face that Hermione couldn't read her. It felt like an awfully long time before both of her parents reappeared, taking their places on the long sofa, glancing between Hermione and the woman with confusion and curiosity .

"Mr and Mrs Granger" The woman began, even her voice sounded strict, "My name is Minerva McGonagall. I am the Deputy Headmistress for Hogwarts School of Witchraft and Wizardry" Minerva stood from her seat, reached into her robes and pulled an old looking envelope.

"Excuse me" Hermione raised a hand much to the delight of her parents, "But what is Hogwarts?"

Minerva chuckled once before glancing at the young girl over the edge of her glasses, "Hogwarts, Miss Granger, is a school for young children like yourself. They came and stay at Hogwarts for seven years and are taught all the necessary skills to became a great Witch or Wizard"

Hermione's eyes widened as she looked at her parents who were staying at Minerva with a look of disbelief, "A what?"

"It's suffice to say that you are indeed a Witch" Minerva handed the letter to Hermione and watched as took in the sight of the crest

Hermione ran her hand over the smooth wax, it was a deep, warm red with an emblem of sorts imprinted into the wax. She broke the seal and opened the letter, revealing multiple pieces of parchment. Her eyes scanning the words, trying to take in what she was hearing.

The letter read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE_   
_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Granger,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_   
_Deputy Headmistress_

Hermione couldn't help it, her mouth dropped open in complete and utter surprise. There was no way she was a Witch. They were meant for fairy tales and bedtime stories, not real life! She shook her head when her thoughts finally caught up, "I'm sorry but you must have the wrong Hermione Grange. I couldn't be a Witch"

"Have you ever made something happen that you couldn't explain?" Minerva asked, with sincere interest. "Has your adrenaline ever gotten you so worked up that mysterious things have happened?"

It was Monica that answered for her daughter, "Many times" She laughed at the memories came flooding back. "There was one time at the supermarket. Hermione was being chased by a young boy, he was teasing her quite bad about her hair, Hermione was running from him and next thing we knew she was suddenly up on the top shelf" Her father, Robert, who had been remaining silent during this suddenly broke out into laughter.

"Or that time she caused the young Magee girl to trip over her own feet"

Monica and Robert laughed at the fond memories of the many amazing but hard to explain situations their daughter had been involved in. They took a look at the stern teacher on front of them before composing themselves quickly. "So what you're saying is that our daughter is a witch?" Robert asked

"Correct" Minerva agreed

"And she's been invited to study at this school?"

"Again, correct"

"Is this the best school for her to attend?" Monica queried, education had always been important to her

"I can assure you that Hogwarts is the best Wizarding school in the country. Your daughter will study under many talented teachers who have trained in their relevant areas of expertise and she will be under the care of the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore"

"This...Albus fellow, is he trustworthy"

Finally Minerva smiled, only briefly but it was a smile. "Mr and Mrs Granger, I can assure you that Albus Dumbledore is one of the greatest Wizards the community has ever seen. Hogwarts is also the safest place for your daughter to be while she is training and learning the necessary skills to complete her education. We offer the highest protection we can, and we have many wards on the school to ensure that no Muggles or dark wizards can enter the school?"

"Muggles?" Hermione's brows furrowed, it wasn't everyday that she was clueless about something. "Just what is a Muggle?"

"A Muggle is a person who has no magic ability. Like your parents here, they do not have magic but they have produced a magical child. So, to Wizards you would be known as a Muggleborn Witch. You will learn all of this during term, if you wish to accept your place, that is"

Hermione glanced at her parents, know that she understood a bit more she felt the excitement course through her veins at the thought of studying something completely new. Her parents turned to look at her, already sensing the curiosity that their daughter held.

"Mum, Dad?"

"Hermione, this is a wonderful opportunity" Monica smiled, reaching over and placing a hand on her daughter's. "We have a Witch in the family! How proud we are. And if you choose to go to Hogwarts then we will support you 100%"

Robert nodded in agreement, "Of course! As hard as it may be to send you off to school far away, we always knew you were destined for wonderful things. You're going to make us so proud"

Hermione felt the tears brim at her eyes before she threw herself into her parent's waiting arms, she hugged them tightly before turning to look at, she assumed, one of her new teachers. "I would love to accept the offer"

"Wonderful, term time begins on September 1st. The train will be departing from Platform 9 and 3/4. The other letter included explains what you have to get books, uniform and wand wise. As Wizard currency is different to Muggle currency you can attend the bank in Diagon Alley, called Gringotts. In there you will be able to convert your money. I shall owl you where you shall need to go and how to get there, as a Muggle family I know this will be hard to navigate. But for now, I must be going. We look forward to having you at Hogwarts, Miss Granger"

And with that Minerva vanished from the room with a loud pop, Hermione winced at the sudden loud noise before glancing through the requirement list.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

_UNIFORM_

**First-year students will require:**

_1.Three sets of plain work robes (black)_   
_2.One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_   
_3.One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_   
_4.One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)_

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags.**

**COURSE BOOKS**

**All students should have a copy of each of the following** :

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk_   
_A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot_   
_Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling_   
_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch_   
_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore_   
_Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger_   
_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_   
_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble_

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

_1 wand_   
_1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_   
_1 set glass or crystal phials_   
_1 telescope_   
_1 set brass scales_

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.**

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

"Wow" Hermione whispered, "I'm a Witch. An actual Witch" She smiled.

"You're special Hermione, you always have been" Monica smiled

Hermione glanced at her Mum. Special was all she wanted to be, and now she was.

 


	6. Leap of Faith - Remus and Tons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus and Tonks have a heart to heart with the help of Sirius

Remus Lupin had never been one for relationships, he had a hard upbringing and along with his slightly big and hairy problem, they made for a terribly long and complicated explanation to the poor Witch who had shown him the slightest bit of interest. But as he sat in his usual place in the kitchen of Grimmuald Place, which allowed him to see into the front corridor, he couldn't help but smile at the clumsy but adorable Auror by the name of Nymphadora Tonks, of course he would never call her Nymphadora to her face, he had learnt his lesson quickly after seeing the young witch cast a quite painful biting jinx at Sirius who ultimately was bit by a tea cup.

No matter how many times she visited, she always managed to forget about the awfully loud and shrill portrait of Mrs Black, which would then surprise her and cause her to lose her footing on the troll foot umbrella holder. This regular occurance may have grown old with the other Order members but not Remus, he had grown to appreciate the young girl's clumsiness. Between that and her ever changing hairstyles he had grown quite fond of her and they had managed to find themselves on the same shift together a few times, but not as much as Remus would have liked.

Tonks scurried into the kitchen, taking her place at the table ensuring not to look at anyone as she quickly apologised for being late and for causing so much noise. Her eyes caught Remus' for a moment and he quirked an eyebrow slightly as he saw her cheeks turn pink, but it was only for a moment before Tonks turned her attention to Moody who was standing at the top of the table.

"There's been a change of plans, the Ministry have sent an Owl to Potter's address telling him he's been expelled for using magic on front of a Muggle"

"That's preposterous!" Sirius slammed his hand on the shaky wooden table, "He was defending himself! Those dementors had no right to be in that Muggle village. Harry could have been killed"

Remus stayed silent, he knew when Sirius had heard about the attack he had been not too pleased, he had been close to running out to go save Harry himself but Remus was able to speak some sense into him.

"We know Sirius" Moody growled, "That's why Dumbledore is on his way to the Ministry to speak to them. He's going to try and get the expulsion reversed but knowing how Fudge like's to hold a grudge, they'll be in for a trial at least. Moving on, Dumbledore has tasked us to retrieve Harry from his Aunt and Uncle's house as soon as possible. I've set up a squad of myself, Kingsley, Nymphadora..."

"Don't" Tonks cut in, her eyes narrowing at her mentor, "Call me Nymphadora" Her words were harsh, which matched the new colour of hair she sported as she grew angry, it was harsh and violent red but Moody ignored her and carried on.

"Lupin, and two new recruits called Windfell and Winchester. Any objections?" Moody glanced around the room.

A word wasn't spoken, and with that Moody moved onto some other important matters they had to attend too. As Remus slowly lost his concentration, which often happened when Moody went on for too long, his eyes wondered to Tonks who was captivated by every word Moody said. She knew he looked up to him, appreciative of the skills she was learning from him. Remus felt himself smile again, he couldn't help it. For some reason Tonks stirred up feelings inside of him which he had not felt in a long time. But he couldn't allow himself to feel them for too long, he knew he was too old for her and he didn't want to burden her with his condition for fear of hurting her. He sighed to himself when he felt a kick against his leg.

He glanced over to his right and found Sirius grinning at him, a twinkle in his eye which Remus knew meant trouble.

"Meeting adjourned. And remember everyone, we leave tomorrow night at 7pm. We have it under authority that the Dursley's will be leaving for the weekend"

The order members nodded before finally being able to disperse, almost immediately Tonks flew from the table to be beside Moody, asking him questions about the extraction and what problems could happen. It then occurred to him that Tonks reminded him of someone very familiar. A young, bushy haired girl who was the brightest witch of her age and always eager to learn.

"Drool much more Mooney and she'll know whats up" Sirius chuckled, ignoring the sudden steely glare his friend was directing his way

"I don't know what you're talking about" Remus sniffed

Sirius rolled his eyes, sipping on the glass of fire whiskey in his hand, "Don't play coy Remus. You could barely keep your eyes of Tonks the whole way through the meeting. You didn't think anyone was going to notice eventually did you?"

Remus felt his cheeks flush, he actually hadn't thought of that, he found himself to be the least interesting person in the room especially when Mad Eye was speaking. "Actually no" He admitted much to the surprise of Sirius

"Just talk to her for crying out loud instead of sitting her like a lovestruck teenager!"

"I can't Padfoot, and you know why" Sirius rolled his eyes, setting his glass on the table and leaning towards his friend

"Listen to me Mooney, you don't know how she feels. You don't know if she'll say yes or no. All you have to do is take the change. You deserve to be happy my friend. After the years of pain and torture you've had to endure, you deserve the chance"

Remus pursed his lips, staring at Sirius for a moment while absentmindedly stroking the slightly faded scar on his right cheek, a gift from Frenrir Greyback whom he hoped to repay the favor someday. "It's not that easy" He grunted, he hated feeling confused. Especially about a girl. "I can't risk hurting her Sirius. She deserves someone her age, someone who has prospects and won't get turned away from a job when they find out what I am. She doesn't deserve the pain I would bring"

"But you would bring her so much happiness Remus, and I know she would bring you so much happiness too. Take the chance. If she doesn't feel the same then fine, you will know that and can move on and let her be happy. Or, if she feels the same as you, you can finally be happy with someone else who truly cares about you. Take the leap of faith and see where it leads you" Sirius smiled, seeing the resolve in his friend slowly starting to crumble.

"But..."

"No buts!" Sirius yelled, ignoring the confused looks he had received in return, "Either you do it yourself or I'll do it for you" He smirked

Remus' eyes widened, he remembered all too well the last time Sirius had tried to help him find a girlfriend. He shivered at the memory, sometimes the smell of that potion still haunted him. But he knew Sirius was right, even though he knew he wasn't right for Tonks, he couldn't deny himself the shot of happiness. That's what he had always dreamed of.

Slowly Remus nodded, his eyes glancing back at Tonks who he found was no longer speaking to Mad Eye but instead making her way back over to the table, and more importantly heading for the vacant seat beside himself. Sirius chuckled and leaned back in his seat, eager to watch the love unfold between the two.

"Remus, Sirius" Tonks smiled as she sat down beside Remus, her heart fluttering with excitement as her arm accidentally brushed against Remus. Something which did not go unnoticed by Sirius.

"Tonks" They both greeted

Remus glanced over at Sirius, quirking an eyebrow and giving him a look which ultimately told him he was no longer welcome for this part of the conversation.

Sirius sighed and stood up, "I can tell when I'm not wanted in a conversation. So, I bid you both farewell and if you need me I will be in the living room, trying to get our uptight friend Kingsley to have a drink with me" He grinned before disappearing through the kitchen door, but not before yelling one last thing to his friends. "Don't do anything us Marauders wouldn't do!"

Remus chuckled, noticing the puzzled look on Tonk's face, "Inside joke. It's a long story, something which can be told another day. It's getting rather late" His eyes flickered to the watch on his wrist

Tonks nodded, "It was an interesting meeting wasn't it?" He could see the excitement in her eyes as she spoke, relaying the information from the conversation she had been having with Mad Eye. "I just hope Harry's okay. I'm excited to meet him! How strange is it to care about someone you've never meet before?"

"Not weird at all I think, I'm sure with the amount of stories you've heard from everyone it feels like you already know him"

Tonks smiled, "You're very wise Remus"

"Well, I am quite old" He remarked, a faint blush on his cheek.

"Not that old, you seem to make yourself appear older than you are. Or maybe that's just because you're so wise and knowledgeable"

Remus felt the heat increasing in his cheeks, his palms were now sweaty and he was vigorously rubbing them on his trousers to get the wet feeling away. "T-Thank you, Tonks" He smiled. Now it was Tonks turn to blush, her eyes glancing at the table as her hair turned a rather lovely shade of pink.

"Pink suits you"

Tonks looked up at him in surprise, wondering if this was really happening or was she making it up in her mind, was he actually flirting with her? Or attempting to?

"Thanks Remus" She smiled, playing with her hands as they fell into a nice silence

It was Remus to break it, "Listen Tonks, I...."

"Remus if you dare say about being old again I shall bring back the biting jinx" She grinned, a teasing twinkle in her eye

"No, I...I wasn't going to say anything like that" Remus scratched the back of his head nervously, "I was going to ask if you would like to accompany me out to the Three Broomsticks at the weekend. After we get Harry here I'm sure we'll have some free time" He took a deep breath and looked her in the eyes, not being able to gauge what she was thinking he began to panic. Before Tonks knew what was happening he had stood up so suddenly he knocked the chair backwards and onto the floor.

"Nevermind, it was silly of me to assume you'd even want to go out with someone like me" Remus coughed, straightening up and fixing his tie as his eyes glued to the front door. Time to make a hasty escape. "Let's just forget I said anything, shall we?" He tried to move round the table but found himself incapable to do so as Tonks was not grabbing onto his wrist

"Remus, don't be so silly. And don't jump to conclusions" Tonks patted his hand, "If you had of let me speak you would have heard me telling you that I would love to go with you to the Three Broomsticks" Tonks grinned, surprising Remus once again.

"You would?" He asked, he couldn't believe it. He had actually gotten a date.

"I would" Tonks grinned and placed a soft kiss on the scar on his cheek

"I'm not promising anything will come of it Tonks, I still think you could do much better than me. But I will try, and I look forward to our date this weekend"

"I look forward to our date too" Tonks grinned

A happy and comfortable silence fell between the pair, only being broken by a shout that emitted from the living room and sounded suspciously like Sirius Black. "Yes! Go on Mooney! You've got the girl!" Remus and Tonks glanced at each other, just wondering how in earth he had their conversation but all too soon it was followed up with another audible comment.

"I really do have to thank Fred and George for these Extendable Ears, they work wonderfully!"

Remus chuckled, seeing the confused look on Tonk's face again made his smile only grow bigger. "Marauders will be Marauders"

 


	7. Amnesia - Draco and Hermione

_'Isn't it funny how the memories you cherish before a breakup can become your worst enemy afterwards? The thoughts you loved to think about, the memories you wanted to hold up to the light and view from every angle. It suddenly seems a lot safer to lock them in a box, far from the light of day and throw away the key. It's not an act of bitterness. It's an act of self preservation. It's not always a bad idea to stay behind the window and look out at life instead, is it?'_

- **Allyson Braithwaite Condie, First Day**

Draco sucked in a deep breath as he stared at the empty apartment, it felt like he lived a whole different life here with her. All of those memories he had shut away for so long slowly started to trickle back into his thoughts, he switched the light on and gazed at the still decorated living room. Pictures were hanging on the wall, untouched since they were first put up. The pillows and blankets had remained on the couch after their last night watching a film together. Back when everything was so simple. That had been 8 months ago. 8 long and tedious months he had to spend alone because of his mistake. Because of his insecurities. Draco had a tendency to mess up the best things he had in life and now he was truly paying for that one mistake.

_I drove by all the places we used to hang out getting wasted_   
_I thought about our last kiss, how it felt the way you tasted_   
_And even though your friends tell me you're doing fine_

He took a brave step into the light, letting his heart feel the unbearable pain of losing her all over again. "I'm so sorry" He whispered, falling to his knees as the tears finally fell.

**8 months ago -**

_Hermione shut the door to their apartment and flung her keys onto the counter, finally glad to be home after a hard day at work. First, none of the paperwork she had requested from the investigation from when Newt Scamandar's creatures got loose in London had been delivered to her office, this had been due to the incompetency of the new intern her department had hired. Then when she finally did receive the paperwork, an emergency Patronus arrived advising that there had been an attempted break in at Gringotts bank. And then if her day couldn't get any worse, her office started raining and it flooded._

_She needed to vent to Draco and she needed to do it now. "Draco, I'm home" She called out, but got no reply. She sighed and opened the fridge, pulling out the half bottle of white wine they had started to drink but never finished and poured herself a glass. She sipped on the wine as she walked through the apartment, surely Draco would have been home by now. Then she saw it. The discarded shirt on the floor, followed by matching black trousers, following those was a black, sequined dress and tights. Hermione's heart was in her throat as the pile of clothes lead to their bedroom. The tears had already begun as she pushed open the door, and what she saw shattered her heart._

_Draco and another girl in their bed, together. Hermione lost all sense of feeling and the wine glass she had fell to the floor and shattered with a crash. The crash by the door startled Draco, he jumped up and his eyes widened as he saw Hermione standing there. Her make up running down her face as she caught him in the act._

_"Hermione, I can explain" Draco stated, pulling his boxers and pyjama pants on._

_Hermione shook her head, without uttering a single word she stormed away from the room being closely followed by Draco who ignored the unknown girls pleas for him to come back into bed. When he entered the bedroom Hermione was standing with her back turned to him._

_"Hermione, love. Please" Draco whispered_

_Hermione whipped round with such force that Draco through he would find a wand placed at his neck, but he didn't. Hermione was crying, the big, fat ugly tears which were now rolling down her cheeks with no intention of stopping. "I can't even look at you" She whispered, too frightened to raise her voice. Too numb and stunned to even process what was happening right now. "How could you?"_

_Draco gulped, he didn't know how this happened. He really didn't and it killed him to see Hermione like this. He never wanted to hurt her, and now here he was pushing away the only person he's ever loved. "I...I"_

_"Go on" Hermione hissed, her eyes ablaze with anger. "You told me you had an explanation, so explain, please"_

_Draco had never heard such venom in her voice, she was truly furious at him and she had every right to be. "I don't know what happened, I really don't. And I know that sounds like a shitty excuse but you have to believe me Hermione, I'm so so sorry!" He pleaded, running his hands through his dishevelled blonde hair. "I always do this! I always end up hurting the people I love and care about"_

_Hermione laughed, a cold and heartless laugh. "You just don't hurt them Draco. You destroy them" She shook her head, trying her best to not look at him. Her head was telling her to go but her heart was telling her to stay, even after what he done, her heart was telling her to give him another chance. But she was so angry!_

_"Hermione, please. Be reasonable"_

_"Be reasonable?!" She screeched. Draco gulped, he had definitely said the wrong thing. "How can I be reasonable? To me our love was everything and you were my whole life. It is not very pleasant to realise that to you it was only an episode. Just another chapter in your ever expanding novel of lies"_

_Draco winced, he deserved that and he knew he did. "I love you Hermione, please, I'm begging you. Give me another chance. I love you so much!"_

_Hermione sucked a deep breath in, those words piercing at her heart. It felt like she was being stabbed over and over again. She never wanted to feel like this. "I think you still love me, but we can't escape the fact that I'm not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen" Hermione laughed bitterly, shaking her head. "I'm so naive. I should have listened to everyone who warned me about you but no. I thought I could be the one to tame you, to show you the real meaning of love. How wrong I was"_

_Draco felt the tears coming, he hoped she wasn't doing what he thought she was about to do._

_"So, I'm not blaming you for cheating on me with another woman. It's my fault really. I should have seen this coming. I'm not angry either now. I should be, but I'm not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong. This is the worst pain imaginable and I would never wish this on anyone" Hermione gulped, taking a step towards Draco and placing her hand on his cheek. She let the tears roll freely now, knowing this would be the last time she would see him. "Goodbye Draco" She whispered, removing her hand from his cheek and apparating away from him._

**Present Day -**

_Are you somewhere feeling lonely even though he's right beside you?_   
_When he says those words that hurt you, do you read the ones I wrote you?Sometimes I start to wonder, was it just a lie?_   
_If what we had was real, how could you be fine?'Cause I'm not fine at all_

Draco stared out the window, wondering just where in the world Hermione was right now. If she would ever consider giving him a second chance, he would take it in a heartbeat and make it count. But sadly he knew that was too good to be true. In the months since their break up, Potter had been informing him that Hermione had recently met someone new and they had a couple of successful dates. He didn't know if it would lead to something more serious but Draco was worried, and he knew he had no right to be. But he couldn't help it. Hermione was still his everything.

_I remember the day you told me you were leaving_   
_I remember the make-up running down your face_   
_And the dreams you left behind you didn't need them_   
_Like every single wish we ever made_   
_I wish that I could wake up with amnesia_   
_And forget about the stupid little things_   
_Like the way it felt to fall asleep next to you_   
_And the memories I never can escape'Cause I'm not fine at all_

With one last try, Draco closed his eyes and thought of the one person he wanted to see the most, he willed his magic to take him to the most likely place she would be. With a sudden lurch Draco apparated from the apartment and found himself in Diagon Alley. He glanced around eagerly, hoping to see a flash of brown hair but he couldn't spot it in the busy crowd. His eyes caught the brightness of the Twin's shop. Following his instinct and gut he approached the shop with caution, he had become good friends with the Weasley family after the War. He had done his best to make amends to everyone he had caused pain to, and he was pleasantly surprised when Mrs Weasley took him in like part of the family.

When inside the shop, he stopped for a moment to admire just how well the Twins were doing for themselves. The shop was busy as ever with both new, present and old Hogwarts students alike buying stock. He managed to find the twin's easily enough, one was on the second floor of the shop helping a young girl pick a Pygmy Puff. The second twin, who he assumed to be George with the missing ear and all, was behind the till serving the long queue of customers. Draco decided to be brave and went up to the counter, ignoring the shouts behind him for skipping the queue.

George was surprised nonetheless when she saw Draco Malfoy standing on front of him, although they would now be considered friends of sorts, he wasn't quite happy with him right now, just like the rest of his family. "Malfoy" He greeted coldly.

Draco winced, he had expected this but it still hurt. "George" He smiled nervously. "Congratulations on the second shop's new opening soon. I'm sure it'll do just as well"

George nodded curtly, "What do you want Malfoy?"  
  
"Please George, tell me where she is" He whispered, George finally met the eyes of Draco and frowned as he saw the pain and suffering in his eyes. He looked like crap, like he hadn't been sleeping well.

"You know I can't"

"You can or you won't?"

George rolled his eyes, "She doesn't want you to know where she is"

"All I want to know is that she's safe and happy. If she's found someone else and is truly happy then I'll leave her alone. But..." He paused, not sure if he should continue but seeing the curiosity in George's eyes made him go on. "If she's not happy or if she hasn't found someone else then I want to try talk to her. She has every right to be angry still but I need to do this. I'm in agony. I hate being without her. She was my oxygen, she helped me breath. She helped me learn to love myself again and to love life"

George nodded, "You should have thought about that when you slept with another woman"

Draco frowned but agreed. "I know, I was stupid. I was young and naive. And I was scared, I had never felt what I had with Hermione before and it terrified me, so I did the only thing I could think of. And that was to push the only person I've ever loved away and that is the biggest regret I have"

George sighed, he didn't want to feel bad for Draco, he was the one who caused Hermione all of this pain. But he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. When they were together Draco and Hermione had made a brilliant couple as surprising as it was, but they both bought out different traits in each other. "She's upstairs, in the flat. Here's the key, but make sure to bring it back before you go"

Draco smiled thankfully, taking the key from George and darting of to the flat entrance. He turned the key into the entrance and walked up the stairs. His heart hammering with nerves and fear, he didn't know what to expect when he walked in. And he knew that it may be something he didn't like but he had to do this, no matter what. He had to make her listen or just see her one more time. Draco took a deep breath and pushed the door open, stepping into what seemed to be an empty flat.

"Hello?" He called out, silence greeting him. His heart sunk in disappointment, he turned round ready to leave when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Draco?"

That voice, that one he had been longing to hear for so long, Draco turned slowly almost as if he didn't think she would be real. His breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight of her. Her hair was tied into a simple but messy plait, she was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, converse and a chequered shirt which had mysterious looking stains on them. He quirked an eyebrow.

Hermione blushed, wiping her hands on her shirt before crossing her arms and eyeing him curiously. "I work for the twins now. I've been helping them develop new potions and antidotes. I've even been working on a new love potion, something a little less potent than Amortentia"

Draco nodded, suddenly shifting from foot to foot nervously.

"Just what are you doing here Draco?"

"I...I needed to see you" He admitted. "I know I don't have the right to anymore. But Hermione...I can't live without you. You're my world. These past 8 months have been torture and I know I only have myself to blame. I know you're angry, and upset and I'm sure I'm the last person in the world you ever want to see but I just had to come and see if there was anyway you could forgive me"

Hermione was startled to say the least, after 8 months of no communication from Draco she thought she would never hear from him again. As hesitant as she was to admit it, she missed him. A lot. The past 8 months had been hell for her too. She had enough of her Ministry job so she quit. After just apparating from their apartment they shared together she had left her belongings and never returned for them. The twins had been amazing and provided a roof over her head as long as she agreed to work with him to help them develop a new line of products. The pay wasn't too shabby either but she didn't know if that was the normal rate for their employers or if there were doing it for as a family friend.

"Draco..."

"Please Hermione, just hear me out. I know what I done was selfish and awful. I do. I have regretted it ever since the moment it happened. I know you'll find that hard to hear. Bloody hell if you need to, give me veritaserum and then you'll know I'm telling you the truth" Draco pleaded, how he longed to just storm over to her, grab her by the waist and kiss her passionately. But knowing Hermione and how angry she could get, he didn't want a repeat of third year, somethings he swore his jaw still ached from that punch.

"You don't need to do that" Hermione whispered, taking a step closer to him. His heart picked up speed, was this hope? Or was she going to crush him down like she had every right to do?

"I'm going to be honest" Hermione admitted, staring Draco in the eyes but he couldn't tell what she was thinking or feeling. "I was so upset and distraught that you had done that. I couldn't have stayed. I couldn't look at you in the eyes, because you disgusted me. In that moment you were no more than that horrid, self centred, cocky 11 year old boy I had first met all those years ago. Just taking what he wanted and not caring about the consequences. You destroyed part of me that day" Hermione felt the tears burn at her own eyes.

"But even through all of that, I still loved you. I still love you" Hermione smiled a little, seeing a small twinkle returning in Draco's eyes.

"I know I shouldn't after what you done, but after taking these last 8 months to sit and have some time to myself even I had to admit that everyone makes some mistakes. A lot of people can forgive someone for cheating, a lot of people can't forgive someone for cheating. I find that it's up to that person with want they want to do. It's their choice. So if someone chose to stay with someone who had done something like that, then that choice should be respected"

Draco nodded, he couldn't deny it now, he had fully fledged hope and if she was about to crush him he wouldn't know what to do.

"I'm not going to lie but I was in a relationship for about a month" Draco felt his heart break ever so slightly, he should have known that she would have found someone else. Harry did tell him she was dating after all. "But, he didn't turn out to be what I expected. Or what I wanted"

"And what do you want?" Draco asked tentatively

"You" Hermione smiled, closing the space between them by wrapping her arms around his neck. "I want you Draco, it's always going to be you. No matter what happens. But I swear to you, this is the only chance I will be giving you. So please don't screw it up"

Draco wrapped his arms tightly around her waits and nodded, "I promise and swear to you Hermione that I will never do anything like that again. I never meant to hurt you, all I want to do is make you happy" He placed a soft kiss on her cheek, feeling that same spark that he had first felt when they kissed. "I love you Hermione. Always"

"I love you too Draco. Always"

And with that Draco captured Hermione's lips with his own, he finally felt complete. He had the girl of his dreams back in his arms and his life was beginning to feel whole again.

 

 


	8. Drunken Confessions - Draco and Harry

Draco sipped on his glass of fire whiskey as he stayed hidden in the corner, the party was in full swing now but still he felt alone. His eyes wandered over the sea of red heads, with a few dark coloured hair or blonde hair occasionally disrupting the pattern. He had received the invite 2 weeks ago exactly, and he was in shock to say the least. Although Hermione and himself had gained a new and quite close friendship considering everything he had put her through at Hogwarts, he had been quite surprised when he had received the invite to Charlie and Hermione's engagement party. He knew the two had been dating for quite a while, and it was only a matter of time before the second eldest Weasley popped the question. But he just never thought it possible that he would get invited.

Draco Malfoy wouldn't admit this out loud but he was grateful. Grateful for finally finding the meaning of friends and how they should be.

He felt the burn of the firewhiskey hit the back of his throat, ready to turn round for another when a stumbling Harry Potter almost fell into him. Draco felt the corner of his mouth tug up almost into a smile, but he refused momentarily. Instead opting for an eye roll and helping Harry back up to his feet.

"I think you've had too much fire whiskey Potter" Draco drawled, reaching for the glass in the Harry's hand only for it to be snatched away.

"Shhh Draco" Harry grinned, swaying slightly from side to side. "Don't ruin the fun" Harry raised his glass before tipping the rest of the contents into his mouth and swallowing in one gulp. Draco couldn't help but let out a chuckle as his face contorted into a look of regret.

"You're going to regret that in the morning...Or maybe in a couple of minutes if you throw it all up again"

Harry pouted, and Draco couldn't help but think it was adorable.

"This is an wonderful party!"

"Why yes Harry, it is" Draco picked up his refilled glass of fire whiskey and tried hard not to laugh at the now intoxicated boy who lived.

"Mrs Weasley's throws the best parties" Harry sighed wistfully, now leaning against Draco and resting his head on Draco's shoulder. Draco felt his cheeks turn pink, suddenly it was starting to feel extremely hot.

"She does" Draco agreed, catching the eye of the bride to be across the room. Hermione began to smirk, sending Draco a quick wink and turned back to her fiance. He really had no idea as to why he told Granger about his crush for Potter, she always made things too obvious and this was something he didn't want to become obvious.

Without warning Harry slipped from Draco's shoulder's, his arm managing to hit and topple one of the small drinks tables before he crumpled into a heap on the floor. Draco couldn't help but laugh, making a mental note to ensure he told Potter about this in the morning once he had recovered from his hangover. The rest of the Weasley clan glanced over at the sudden loud noise, when they noticed what had happened the group began to laugh. Draco bent down and helped Harry back to his feet.

"You're so drunk Potter"

"Am not" Harry stuck his tongue out at Draco who then rolled his eyes but smiled

"Are too"

"Are not!"

"Are too"

"JUST KISS ALREADY DAMMIT!"

Draco and Harry's head snapped up, trying to find the source of the voice, they saw a red head suddenly bob down and started to move between the crowd, a gap emerged and from in between the legs of numerous guests Draco saw the source to be none other than the twins. He was quite sure his face the shade of the Weasley's hair.

"Come on Potter, lets get you home"

"But it's Hermionee's party! She'll not forgive me if I leave early" Harry whined, glancing up at Draco with a sad, scornful look, one that looked a puppy and was quite hard to resist.

"Believe me Potter" Draco glanced over at Hermione who was now happily snogging Charlie Weasley in the kitchen of the Burrow. "I don't think Granger will mind, she's a bit preoccupied right now"

Harry sighed but nodded, allowing Draco to wrap his arm around his waist and helping him outside of the wards before apparating back to Harry's apartment. When at the door Harry gave Draco the key and they stumbled in before Harry collapsed on the sofa. Draco took a seat beside him and sighed, the silence enveloping them both.

"Draco?"

"Yes Harry"

"You're cute...and handsome" Harry's head was back on Draco's shoulder now

"You're cute too Potter" Draco chuckled, and patted the raven haired boy's head once before resting his own head against his. His eyes fluttered closed and within minutes the two fell into a blissful and peaceful sleep in each other's arms.

 


	9. The Beginning - Fred and Hermione

_We must be willing to relinquish the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us_

\- **Joseph Campbell**

As the bell tolled midnight Hermione found it relentless to get any sleep, she had been tossing and turning for over an hour now and sleep just wouldn't come to her. She sighed and shoved her blankets back before grabbing her dressing gown and walked to the kitchen. The house was quiet, which was unusual considering two of the noisiest people she knew were living with her. Two mischievous red headed twins who would not stop joking or causing mayhem, but as much as Hermione hated to admit it, she wouldn't have the twins any other way. Especially one certain twin.

"Looks like someone else can't sleep"

A husky voice shook her from her thoughts and she jumped a little, her hand clenching her wand tightly in her hand before she turned slowly to see that it was only Fred, he was leaning against the door frame with a smug look on his face, like he was proud to have scared her.

"Fred Gideon Weasley, don't you dare scare me like that again" She scolded, trying to sound as Mrs Weasley like as she could muster, although that only seemed to please Fred being when Hermione told him off.

He moved past her easily to get a glass from the cupboard and Hermione couldn't help but notice how nice he smelt, like cinnamon and vanilla, a small smile crept up on her face but she kept her head down so he wouldn't notice. An awkward silence fell over them which surprised her, Fred never knew when to shut up.

"What has you up this late Mione?" Fred asked

"Just couldn't sleep, what about you?"

Fred shrugged, "I couldn't sleep either. Plus George was being a git keeping me awake so here I am" Fred smiled

Hermione nodded slowly and sat down at the kitchen table opposite Fred, finding her glass very interesting all of a sudden after she caught his eyes. Without warning Fred was suddenly beside her, he was so close that she could feel the warmth radiating from him. She could feel his eyes staring at her, so she slowly turned her head and raised her eyes to meet his. There was a look in his eyes, something she couldn't place her finger on but she would be lying if she said she didn't like it, it made her insides explode with some kind of fluttering...oh no..

Hermione's eyes widened slightly, she knew this feeling all too well, she had initially felt these for Ron when they had first met back in their first year of Hogwarts but those flames were soon extinguished. Ron was too immature for her and he certainly had no qualms about telling people how it is or hurting her feelings. But this feeling she had now, it was the butterflies.

"Why are you looking at me like that Fred?" She whispered

"Like what?" Fred smiled a little, just enough that the corners of his mouth were tugging up ever so slightly.

Hermione was at a loss for words, the feeling of him watching her made her lose all train of thought. "Just...like I'm some piece of meat" She lied smoothly, Fred pursed his lips and shrugged the comment off.

"I'm not staring at you like that, you're way more precious than a piece of meat Mione" Fred took one last sip of his water before smiling at her, drumming his fingers on the wooden table.

"Moving on" Hermione coughed, "Am I taking inventory, working the register or helping customers tomorrow?"

Hermione smiled, ever since the War had ended and Harry along with Ron went on to become Aurors, she felt like something was missing from her life, something that not even books or being a knot it all could feel, and of course she wasn't the only one to notice this. Fred had seen her one evening in the living room of the Burrow staring into a book sadly, re-reading the same page over and over again. So, Fred took it into his own hands and asked her to work in the shop while Verity was on maternity leave. Soon after Verity returned the twins had offered her a permanent position after watching the sales of their products rocket when they announced that one third of the Golden Trio would be working for them, which meant that Verity was moved to do inventory while Hermione fronted the shop.

Verity didn't mind, though she did inform Hermione that she much preferred being behind the scenes plus with her new hours the twin's had offered her were much more suitable now that she had her new baby son.

Turns out though that working for the twins wasn't too bad, she was able to move out of the Burrow and in to the guest bedroom the twins had converted for her, plus the pay was good and she couldn't ask for anything more. Especially as she got to spend so much more time with Fred.

"I think you'll be on the register a while, we're closing earlier since it's Halloween. And as tomorrow is one of the most popular holiday's for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, we need all the help we can get serving the customers"

Hermione mentally face palmed herself, she completely forgot that it was Halloween tomorrow. she had been so busy with getting the products ready that she hadn't had a chance to find a costume. Mrs Weasley would not be happy. Fred, noticing the look on Hermione's face let out a hearty laugh much to Hermione's surprise.

"Don't worry Mione, George and I have it covered. We were able to get you a costume, which Ginny recommended by the way" Fred winked, not missing the way that Hermione's cheeks turned pink. He would have to do that more often. "So you know with Ginny's choice it's not going to be...uh...showy for you"

Hermione blushed again, if she had known the twins were getting her costume and they had been left to their own devices, she just knew the kind of outfit they would put her in just to embarrass her. But still, who knows what Ginny had chosen for her.

"Thanks Fred, I appreciate it" She murmured and he tilted his head in appreciation

"Anytime Mione" Fred smiled again before stretching and letting out a tired yawn, he slowly and regretfully raised himself from the table. "Right, well I think I'm going to go try fall asleep again. We have a long day tomorrow and then we have to pick up some dessert for the party. Night Mione" Fred smiled as he leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her head before disappearing down the hallway.

Hermione only let herself breathe when she heard his bedroom door close with a soft thud.

"This is not happening" Hermione whispered to herself, "I'm getting a crush on Fred Weasley"

 


	10. You Have A Choice - Draco and Hermione

_'This pain is part of being human, the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength'_   
  
**\- Albus Dumbledore**

"You have a choice, Draco"

Draco sighed, pressing his fingers to his temple and wishing that the oncoming headache would just go away, he and Granger had been having the same argument for weeks now. After one, unplanned moment Hermione now knew that he was to become a Death Eater, and his initiation into the ranks was approaching. To be truthful Draco wasn't looking forward to becoming a Death Eater, he saw the pain it caused his family to go through and he didn't want to become what his Father had. He shivered at the thought of being caught and being locked in Azkaban for the rest of his life, it was a terrifying prospect.

"I don't Granger, how many times do I have to tell you?" He frowned; he hated having this fight with her.

Hermione rolled her eyes at his stubbornness, "Of course you have a choice Draco. It's your life. Not your parents. Not Voldemort's. It's your choice. You can choose to be the good guy if you want to be. You don't have to fight with the death eaters. Choose to be with us. Choose to be with me"

Hermione smiled, taking Draco's hand in her own and giving it a quick squeeze. Their relationship hadn't been the best recently, but she still cared for him deeply even when they fought or argued. But she had noticed Draco becoming more withdrawn in the recent weeks, he'd often be missing from the Great Hall at dinner and they hadn't been going on their daily walks around the castle as often anymore.

Then she found it. Well, more like felt it.

They had been having a good day, it had been a while since they actually had one, but they had been walking along the edge of the forbidden forest, trying to stay away from the group of students who would point or stare at the fact that they were now together. Their relationship wasn't a secret, but they weren't exactly flaunting it either. Both Draco and Hermione didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to them; they just wanted to enjoy their relationship together.

They had just been walking, enjoying the warm sun on their face and the smell of the freshly cut grass when out of the blue, Draco picked her up in his arms and spun her around. Hermione's laugh echoed around the grounds, drawing a few curious glances their way but the infatuated couple didn't take heed as they were too enamoured with each other to care. Draco placed Hermione back on her feet, himself smiling at the musical sound of her laughter. When Hermione's feet hit the ground her legs began to wobble as she felt so dizzy, so to stop her from falling she grabbed Draco's arms.

The mood suddenly sobered as Draco stiffened and then winced at the sudden contact of Hermione's hand on his arm. Hermione didn't miss the look of pain on his face, "Draco?"

Draco didn't answer, he just snapped his arm back in pain and continued to walk again. But of course Hermione wasn't going to let it go, she grabbed his hand and pulled him back. She pushed the sleeve of his shirt up and gasped as she saw it. The dark mark. Her eyes watered as she looked up to Draco.

"You...You're one of them?"

Draco gulped, nodding slowly. It wasn't like he had a choice though! His Mother and Father forced him to go through it, to try make up for the embarrassment the Malfoy family had caused Voldemort.

"Draco"

"Don't Hermione" He grunted, pulling his arm out of her hands

"But why?"

Draco let out a bitter laugh, glaring down at his girlfriend. "Why do you think? I don't have a choice Hermione. It was either this or death"

"You always have a choice Draco. You didn't have to do this!" Hermione sighed, wiping a stray tear from her eye

"Of course I had to! Do you not know what he would have done if I didn't become one of them? Hermione, my family's life was at stake. Voldemort already has enough of a hold on us, I needed to do something to get my family back into his good books"

"His good books?" Hermione's eyes narrowed, "Are you kidding me? He kills and tortures people. All you care about is getting your family back into his good graces to look good again? Draco, this is more serious than that. This is your life. You're parents may think they owe themselves to the Dark Lord and that if they convert you into one of his minions then everything will be forgiven. But this is Voldemort we're talking about, when has he forgiven anyone?"

Draco groaned, this is exactly why he didn't want to tell her. He knew she would react like this, she just wouldn't understand. He ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair. "Hermione, you know it's because of my parents. They asked me to do this...I...I can't let them down"

"That's crap Draco" Hermione crossed her arms on front of her chest, frowning at her boyfriend. "You're parents would understand. I'm sure they would. I could come with you, we can talk to them. Try to get you out of it"

"It's not that simple Granger!" Malfoy yelled, his anger finally reaching boiling point. "And I don't want you to do anything. My parents wouldn't understand you because you're..." He stopped himself before he said, his eyes widening as he realised were his temper was bringing him. And Hermione noticed it to.

Hermione sucked in a painful breath as her tears finally spilled over. "Because I'm what?" She spat, "Go on, you can say it. You've called me it so many times before Malfoy"

Draco winced, he could hear the hurt in her voice, he didn't mean to almost say it. It was only because he was angry, he didn't believe that Hermione was a traitor or mudblood. "Hermione, I'm sorry. I didn't meant to almost say it. I was just angry"

"No, no. Go on" Hermione urged, taking a step away from him. "I'm what. A blood traitor? A mudblood?" she sniffed, wiping away the hot tears that were falling faster with every minute. "I get it, you're ashamed of me. And you're parents would be ashamed of me too"

Draco's eyes widened, "No! That's not it at all. My parents would love you!"

Hermione let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah right"

"Hermione, please. It was a mistake, I didn't mean to" Draco took a step towards her, wanting to wrap his arms around her and hold her close as he apologised a thousand times for making her cry. But she moved away from him, shaking her head.

"Don't" Hermione whispered, her eyes now red rimmed and cheeks puffy with the tears. "Just leave me alone"

With that Hermione turned her back on Draco and ran back to the castle, the hurt she was feeling was unbearable. She didn't know if Draco truly meant it or not, but just knowing that her boyfriend was a death eater now terrified her. She just wanted them to be normal seventeen year old teenagers and not have to worry about a second wizarding war or getting rid of Voldemort. For once she just wanted to not be in any danger.

 


	11. Fred's Funeral - The Weasley Family

Fred's Funeral –

The mood was sombre as the inhabitants of the Burrow, their family and friends, all gathered in the church of Ottery St Catchpole to say a final goodbye to their beloved son, brother and friend. It had been a few weeks since the Battle of Hogwarts was won; it had taken some time to lay the fallen to rest as there had been so many. The magical funeral home was more than happy to do their part and take care of all the arrangements for Fred Weasley's funeral. It had come as a devastation to many that one half of the twin duo and owners of Weasley Wizard Wheezes had been murdered, and at such a young age too.

George had been inundated with business after the War, he knew people had been in need of a pick me up, but at the moment it was too hard for him to step in the shop. So for the meantime he left Verity in charge, along with a few other tenured staff. As George took his seat in the front row, he stared straight ahead as the tears began to fall. He never wanted this to happen, they had known there was always going to be a risk of getting hurt or dying, but George never thought it would happen. And now here he was, without his best friend and brother. How would he go on? He knew he had too, he couldn't let Fred down, but how could he be happy again with Fred by his side.

The crowd began to get larger and larger until all of the seats were taken up, so many people had arrived that people were standing and crowding round the sides of the seats so as they could pay their respects. All of the Weasley family, including Hermione and Harry, were on the front row. Each of them to afraid to say anything because it would make it feel even more real.

The elder ceremony official stood at the top of the steps, looking solemnly at the crowd gathered before him. Some were huddled together and crying, some were sitting in silence and too afraid to utter a whisper. It was a magnificent crowd for a magnificent man.

"Ladies and Gentleman, lets begin" He used a snorous charm to enhance his voice ever so slightly. "Fred Gideon Weasley, was a unique and wonderful young man. Although at school with his brother, George, they may have been a nuisance. Especially to the caretaker Argus Filch. But Fred loved Hogwarts, he considered it as a second home, one where he could come to and spend the time catching up with friends" The wizard paused as he heard a loud cry, his eyes fell to the Weasley family and saw that Molly Weasley now had her face in her husband's neck, trying to muffle sounds of her tears.

"Even though Fred and George may not have liked classes too much they were still extremely smart boys. Even if they preferred causing mischief and chaos" The crowd chuckled, even George managed to emit a chuckle as the tears continued to fall. His eyes glancing over to Fred's coffin every so often.

"Fred's time was cut far too short on this earth and he will be sorely missed by everyone; his friends, his family and maybe even any enemies he made. But his memory will live on with his family, especially with his brother George. Ever since birth the twins were close, managing to spend every single second of the day together. I know Molly used to have her hands full" The wizard smiled, making the Weasley family laugh at the memory. "Especially when the twins were old enough to be taught by Bill and Charlie, the former prankster brothers"

Bill and Charlie glanced at each other as they laughed through the tears, they would always cherish those memories teaching Fred and George their best tricks.

"I have a poem I would like to share with you all, it's a muggle poem but the saying is for everyone. And I hope everyone here today who were effected by the tragic war and the loss of someone close to them will remember this" The wizard smiled sadly.

"Those we love don't go away" He began, "They walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard but always near. Still loved, still missed and very dear" There were more sniffs through the crowd as many people began to cry, he could see out of the corner of his eye that the Weasley family all had their heads bowed as they tried to wipe away their tears. Hermione and Harry who were sat beside each other, held their hands tightly together and stared up at ceremony official, tear tracks glistening down their cheeks.

"Now, I think, George has a few words he would like to say for Fred"

George gulped and rose shakily from his seat, he had a small piece of paper clutched in his hand which was wrapped around it with a vice grip. He needed something to hold onto otherwise he would break down. He felt a loving hand on his shoulder and glanced down to see his Mother smiling sadly at him. "You can do it Georgie" She whispered, her voice wavering with sadness and trying to hold back more tears.

George nodded and took the place of the wizard before him, coughing slightly as if to clear his throat as he stared out at the crowd. "Thank you all for being here today. Fred would have really appreciated you all for being here" His lips quivered as he forced himself to go on. "But Fred would also try and kick us all silly for sitting here crying for him" He chuckled, making the rest of the congregation laugh with him.

"I know I may be biased when I say this, but Fred was one of the best people you could ever know. He may have been loud and boisterous at times. But underneath that he was incredibly caring, selfless and, dare I say it, an emotional man. He didn't like showing his affectionate or emotional side too much" George's eyes met with Hermione's, in one single moment his heart tore into two again as he released his brother would never be able to spend the rest of his life with the one witch he had truly loved.

"Death leaves a heartache that no one can heal, but love leaves a memory that no one can steal" George smiled sadly and walked towards his brother's coffin. Placing one hand on the bottom of it as he willed himself not to break down. "I love you dear brother, we all do. And we miss you terribly" He whispered, mostly to himself but loud enough everyone could still hear. George lifted the beaters bat from where he was sitting and placed it atop the coffin along with a copy of their famous map, which he managed to recreate using the knowledge from Remus Lupin before he too was taken away from the world.

"Mischief managed, Forge"

Fred stared at his brother in sadness as he watched him at his coffin, he had been here the whole time, watching as his friends and family grieved for him. Even though he wouldn't have wanted them to be too sad, he understood that they had to go through their own grieving process. He sighed sadly and placed a ghostly hand upon George's shoulder, wishing he could feel or hear him by his side.

"Mischief managed, Gred"

 


	12. Surprise - Draco and Hermione

Hermione paced the living room, up and down, repetitively as her eyes kept glancing at the clock. He was going to be home in a few minutes and she was going to have to tell him the truth. And the truth scared her so much; she had never planned on anything like this happening. Especially so soon for them, she just hoped he would take it well. Ginny watched as her friend tried to put holes into the carpet, she rolled her eyes, stood up and grabbed Hermione by the shoulders.

"Mione, it's going to be fine. Take a deep breath" Ginny shook her gently

Hermione glanced up at her friend, nodding slowly and trying to calm her racing heart. "Sorry Gin, it's just...I've never been this nervous before"

"It's understandable, you're about to tell him life changing news. Something so big it's going to shock him to his very core. Something so big, so massive..."

Hermione interrupted Ginny by placing a hand over her friend's mouth, only noticing the twinkle in her eye. "You're making fun of me" She pouted

"Mione, I'm not making fun of you" Ginny laughed, "Okay maybe I was a little bit. But you have to relax. He loves you and I'm sure he's going to be delighted when you tell him"

"I don't know Gin, maybe this will be the thing that makes him realise who he's with and then will in turn make him want to break up with me" Hermione chewed the bottom of her lip, never had she been this worried over a boy. Well, except during Hogwarts when she was mooning over Ron but she soon got over that. But now everything was much more real and more serious than ever. It was time for her to be an adult and began her adult life. She just didn't think it would be this soon.

"Hermione Granger" Ginny began carefully, her usually warm and welcoming eyes now darkening ever so slightly as she got serious. "You are the brightest witch of her age; you helped free a Hippogriff imprisoned and sentenced to death, you helped free an innocent man, you fought death eaters in the ministry of magic. You broke the rules and disobeyed teachers. Heck, you even got the worst teacher in the history of Hogwarts kidnapped by centaurs. And most importantly, you are one third of the Golden Trio and played a part in defeating Voldemort for good. You. Can. Do. This" Ginny emphasised the last few words to make sure it sunk into her.

Finally, Hermione smiled and nodded her head, agreeing with what Ginny had said. "You're right. I can do this and I will do this. I can do anything"

"Good" Ginny grinned, giving her friend a tight embrace before pulling away. "I must take my leave, your lover boy is about to be back any minute now and I don't want to make him suspicious with my announced visit when you told him it would just be you two for a romantic evening" Ginny drawled, sending a wink to Hermione as she grabbed her bag and headed towards the floo. "And Mione?"

"Yeah Gin?"

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Ginny laughed as she stepped through the green flames, narrowly avoiding a pillow that Hermione had thrown her way.

A few minutes had passed and it wasn't long until Draco came through the door, he shut the door and turned round, frowning as the silence hit him. It was unusually quiet and it worried him, often he would come home from work and Hermione would already be back from work, either reading a book in her favourite corner of the living room or watching the TV (which he still hadn't manage to grasp the use of yet), or maybe even singing a song to herself in their bedroom. But not today. Today it was silent. And Draco Malfoy did not like silence.

"Hermione?" He called out, putting his briefcase down by the door and walking into the kitchen. She wasn't there, he continued touring the house until he came across their bedroom, and she was sitting there quietly, staring out the window with a rather large looking box beside her which was wrapped in bright blue wrapping paper with a large red bow.

"Is it my birthday?" Draco grinned, walking into their bedroom and taking a seat beside her.

"Something like that" Hermione smiled, turning to face him. They were silent for a moment before Hermione threw her arms around Draco, hugging him tightly before planting a passionate kiss on his lips. After a few minutes they both broke apart, gasping for air. Draco felt flustered and hot under the collar, he smirked his famous Slytherin smirk.

"I could get used to a welcome home like that"

Hermione blushed and elbowed him gently in the ribs, "I'll think about it" she smiled, grabbing the box and planting it in his lap. Her heart beginning to pick up speed again, this was it. This was the moment of truth.

"Am I allowed to open it?" Draco asked, tugging at the bow slightly, he felt like a kid again waiting to open a Christmas present.

Hermione nodded and watched as he tore the wrapping paper open with such vigour, the only time that Hermione had ever seen him ripping something open that fast was his clothes. She held her breath as he opened the lid of the box, watching and trying to gauge his reaction as he began to lift the items out of the bag.

Draco stared at the array of items before him, his eyebrows furrowing as he lifted a small teddy bear that had a dummy in its mouth. He glanced at Hermione, a look of confusion on his face as he dug through the other gifts. There were various items in the box: there were wipes, something called a volume control (dummy), ear defenders, a rattle that a had a small teddy bear clinging to the side of it, a bio hazard bag, emergency nappies, bio-chemical gloves, an emergency gas mask and baby care instructions. Underneath it all was a small, simple card. He flipped it over and read the words.

SURPRISE! You're going to be a Daddy

Draco's eyes widened in surprise as he glanced from the card to Hermione, back to the card and then back to Hermione again. His heart was thumping in his chest and he could feel the excitement and nerves bubbling. "Hermione, are you?"

Hermione nodded, smiling softly as she placed a hand on her stomach which Draco didn't miss, he let his eyes fall to her stomach and his mouth fell slightly open into an 'o' shape. Hermione seeing the sudden look in his eyes began to ramble. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner! I know this has happened all rather quickly, I mean we're barely moved into together and we've just both started great jobs at the Ministry! I'm so sorry if this isn't what you wanted..."

Draco cut her off by capturing her mouth with this own, giving her a loving and tender kiss, before pulling away and cupping her cheek. "Hermione Granger, don't you dare apologise for this amazing gift" He smiled, placing his hand on her stomach.

Hermione felt the tears brimming her eyelids, she sniffed and used the sleeve of her cardigan to wipe away the stray tears. "Oh, stupid bloody hormones" She giggled, hearing her laugh made Draco smile to. "You're happy then?"

Draco scoffed, shaking his head slightly while his eyes remained transfixed on her. "Of course I'm happy! We're going to have a baby. We're going to be parents. I never dreamed of becoming a father until you changed me. After the war, I swore I was going to be on my own for eternity. I didn't want anything to do with my Father, I wanted to shed the Malfoy name and rid myself of all the disgusting things I had ever done" He smiled and moved a stray curl from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "Then you came along, giving me a second chance. Something that I could never have asked you for, or ever expected you to do. You awakened me Hermione, you stirred something inside of myself that I hadn't felt for a very long time. You made me feel loved. You showed me what it was like to be caring and selfless. You helped me become a new person"

Hermione felt her lip begin to quiver again, she chewed on the side of her lip to try get it to stop and saw Draco's eyes flash with desire. She knew that had been something he couldn't resist but Draco continued. "And I will forever be grateful. Ever since things changed between us, since I asked you out and we let our relationship blossom, all I have pictured is the day of possibly having a family with you. And you've made that dream come true. So of course I'm bloody happy"

Draco grinned and pressed another sweet kiss to her delicate lips, "Although, I do hope our baby gets my hair" He winked, laughing as she swatted at his arm.

"Our baby will be perfect" Hermione smiled, letting her head rest on Draco's shoulder as they enjoyed this special moment together.

"Hermione?" Draco asked softly, his eyes back on the gifts in the box

"Yes?"

"What is a volume control?"

Hermione couldn't help but laugh, there was going to be a lot she would have to teach him before the baby came along.

 


	13. From Now On - Draco and Hermione

_Every long separation is a test: A test to see how powerful or how weak the will of reuniting is_

**\- Mehmet Murat ildan**

Draco sipped on his glass of fire whiskey as he attempted to mingle at the Ministry party, but he couldn't. All he could think of was her. The one person he never thought able to break down his barriers or make him feel love or show love. The one person he had tormented for so long was able to forgive him. Telling him it wasn't his fault, he was peer pressured into doing things he didn't want to do. She understood him. And that was something he never thought possible.

Slowly they began a friendship and with time that friendship turned into romance, one that he was thankful was not just one-sided. He had a nervous wreck when approaching her desk that day in the Ministry, he hadn't asked a girl out in so long and there he was about to ask a girl he had relentlessly bullied for years out on a date. But he swallowed his fear and put on the all too familiar Malfoy confidence, he asked her out and to his surprise she said yes. They had their first date at the Three Broomsticks, somewhere that was familiar. They enjoyed a peaceful dinner and a few drinks, it was the first time that Draco had noticed just how beautiful she truly was. He knew the war had changed her, hell it had changed everyone. But the girl that had sat on front of them that day was revived, a shell of the girl he had formerly known in school. She was care free and adventurous, willing to take a risk and see where it went.

"Life's too short to not take risks. So if we want to jump, we'll jump together" She had told him while sipping on her strange concoction called a cocktail. And he couldn't agree more.

But now here he was, alone and at a Ministry event. He had managed to royally mess things up yet again and now he was suffering the worst consequences. He had lost the only person he had truly loved and in a matter of minutes she would be getting married to someone else. It had been a full year since they had departed but there hadn't been a day where he didn't think of her. Draco was consumed by her, in his dreams and when awake. He attempted once to fix it but she wouldn't give him the time of day. He so longed to just march into the wedding ceremony, rip her from the arms of the man she 'loved' and pull her into a searing passionate kiss to remind her of what they had. But he was sure she hadn't forgotten, and he was also sure that she was just trying to settle with her so called fiance.

Draco finished the rest his drink of without a second though, he placed the empty glass on a table and watched as it magically refilled itself. He had just picked up the glass again when someone yanked it from him and placed it back down. Draco turned to find none other than his childhood friend Blaise Zabini on front of him, a knowing smirk on his face.

"What do you want Blaise?"

Blaise shrugged, "It's not what I want Malfoy. It's what you want"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Draco scoffed, snatching the glass from the table and downing the newly refilled glass of amber liquid, wincing as the burn enveloped his throat before subsiding and leaving a dull warmth.

"Bullshit" Blaise smirked, shaking his head. "You will never change Draco. Here's some friendly advice. Grab life by the balls and run with it. Don't care about anyone else with think. For once, be selfish and go get what you want. Otherwise, you're never going to be happy"

With that Blaise patted his friend's shoulder before joining Pansy Parkinson and other former Slytherin members by the drinks fountain. Draco watched as he went, knowing all too well that his friend was right. He needed to be selfish for once, he needed to become the old Draco Malfoy just for one night to try win his girl back. It didn't hurt to try at least once more.

Without another thought Draco slammed his glass on the table and stalked towards the double doors, ignoring the looks and whispers from his colleagues as he stalked out. But as he reached the door he turned his head to find Blaise and the others staring at him, knowing smiles on their faces. "Thanks Zabini" He called, Blaise nodded and saluted to him as a sign of good luck.

Draco shoved the doors open and stalked down the door. He was going to get his girl back and he didn't care whose way he was going to get in. As soon as he got outside and out of the wards, he apparated with one thought in his mind. Hermione.

_I saw the sun begin to dim_   
_And felt that winter wind_   
_Blow cold_   
_A man learns who is there for him_   
_When the glitter fades and the walls won't hold_   
_Cause from then, rubble_   
_One remains_   
_Can only be what's true_   
_If all was lost_   
_Is more I gain_   
_'Cause it led me back_   
_To you_

Hermione stared at herself in the mirror, her eyes racking over her body which was now dressed in a long white gown. It was meant to be her dress but somehow it didn't feel quite right. She didn't know if it was just her or the wedding nerves but something was off and she couldn't quite place her finger on it. The door to her dressing room swung open and for a second her heart almost stopped as she thought it was Draco finally coming back to her. Coming to stop what shouldn't have happened in the first place. Hermione had been wrong to let Draco go, after everything that they had been through, the good and the bad, she knew she had found her soulmate within him. But the pressures they faced from the media, their families and friends was just too much for them and they cracked under the pressure. How she wished to go back to that day and change everything that happened. To just see his face once more.

But Hermione couldn't think like that, here she was about to get married to someone who loved her and cared for her, and she was thinking about another man. She shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts of those piercing grey eyes that she loved so much. She focused on Ginny who had appeared in the room, bouncing with excitement as her eyes laid upon Hermione clad in her wedding dress.

"Oh Mione! Ernie is going to die when he sees you" Ginny beamed but Hermione rolled her eyes

"Thanks, but I'm sure he'll not die" Hermione muttered, something which did not go unnoticed by Ginny.

"Are you okay? Are you not excited?"

No, not really. Hermione thought, wishing she could tell Ginny the truth, that she was still in love with her grey eyed dragon and that she wanted to run the hell out of this place and never look back. How she let things get this far, she didn't know. But now it was too late for her to back out, so she put a fake smile on her face and faced Ginny. "Of course I'm excited, just have a bit of cold feet as all"

Ginny nodded, knowing the feeling all too well previously from her and Harry's wedding. "You'll be fine Mione, just think about once you get seeing Ernie standing at the top of the aisle waiting for you. I don't think I've ever seen the boy look so happy in his life!"

Hermione felt her stomach drop, that was certainly not what she had wanted to hear from Ginny, but what could she do. As far as she knew Draco didn't want anything else to do with her, he attempted once to try and reconcile but Hermione declined, thinking it was best for them to stay parted and Draco must have took her words to heart because he never showed his face to her again. He even transferred out of their department at work.

"Now, let's go Mione!" Ginny squealed, practically bouncing again as she pulled Hermione out of the door and into the hallway which would lead her to her soon-to-be husband. Hermione's father gasped as he saw his little girl standing on front of him, all grown up and dressed in white. He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big squeeze, he could feel the resistance from Hermione, that was a feeling he knew all too well and just knew that she had something on her mind.

"I can take it from here Ginny" The youngest Weasley nodded and went back into join the others in the room, waiting for Hermione's grand entrance.

"Hermione, what is it?"

"Nothing Dad" Hermione sighed, the guilt in her stomach twisting and turning so much she thought she was going to throw up

Her father raised an eyebrow at her and she groaned in defeat, "You know what's wrong Dad! This doesn't feel right. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be with Ernie!" Hermione cried, not to the surprise of her father though. He stood watching and listening to his daughter as she ranted and raved about her feelings, he had always known that something wasn't right. Her smile never reached the top of her eyes, and she barely read anymore. Not since her and Draco's break up. And he wasn't going to lie, Draco and Hermione were much more suited together than her and Ernie, the young boy had always held a flame to Hermione but to Hermione, at the time, it was just a rebound that had escalated.

"Calm down sweetie" He whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. "You don't have to go through with this. We can walk right out of this building and not look back. We can go anywhere you want"

Hermione shook her head, "I can't Dad" She sighed. "I can't break Ernie like that. It would destroy him"

"But you'll destroy yourself in the process"

"I can handle it. I've been broken and destroyed before. I can piece myself back together again. So now, just take my arm and we'll walk together"

Hermione was a stubborn witch and the look she was giving her father was one he did not want to argue with, so he done as she said and looped their arms together and walked towards the door as they heard the music begin to play.

_From now on_   
_These eyes will not be blinded by the lights_   
_From now on_   
_What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight_   
_Tonight_   
_Let this promise in me start_   
_Like an anthem in my heart_   
_From now on_   
_From now on_

Draco knew she was here, he was standing out the small church in the muggle village and he could feel that all too familiar pulling sensation he used to get when they were together. She was here. And they were about to reunite whether she liked it or not. He took a deep breath and shoved the doors open, he walked into a small hallway which was now empty. He frowned and glanced around, trying to find any signs of life. It was then he heard the music, he glanced through the open doors and saw her. The love of his life was walking down the aisle to another man. Draco felt the dragon within him rise up through his stomach and into his throat, he let out a low growl. No way was he going to let this happen. And so, when Hermione had reached the top of the alter, her hand in Ernie's, just as they were about to begin. Draco burst through the door.

_I drank champagne with kings and queens_   
_The politicians praised my name_   
_But those are someone else's dreams_   
_The pitfalls of the man I became_   
_For years and years_   
_I chased their cheers_   
_The crazy speed of always needing more_   
_But when I stop_   
_And see you here_   
_I remember who all this was for_

_And from now on_   
_These eyes will not be blinded by the lights_   
_From now on_   
_What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight_   
_It starts tonight_   
_And let this promise in me start_   
_Like an anthem in my heart_   
_From now on_   
_From now on_   
_From now on_

A collective gasp echoed around the hall as all eyes stared at the young platinum blonde man as he intruded, Hermione and Ernie both looked towards the doors. Hermione felt her heart begin to thump against her chest as she took in the sight of him. His hair was ruffled slightly but he didn't seem to care, his usual pale grey eyes were now ablaze, showing the tints of blue that had streaked them. He was dressed in smart, black dress robes which clung to his toned body. Hermione felt her mouth go dry just at the sight of him.

"What is he doing here?!" Ron yelled, standing up from the crowd but was soon pulled back into his seat by Harry, he was surprisingly the only person who had seemed to be rooting for the couple, even after everything Draco had done to them during their time at Hogwarts.

"What am I doing here?" Draco drawled, the large crowd remained silent as they watched him make his way to the top of the aisle. "I'm here to get the love of my life back"

Hermione's mouth fell open at his words, he wanted her back? But why now, why couldn't he have done this sooner? She felt her hand being tugged at by Ernie, she turned to glance at him but his eyes were narrowed at Draco who was inching ever so close to them now.

"You see, I remembered something tonight while I was stuck at that ball full of uptight and prissy witches and wizards" Draco smiled, his eyes not leaving Hermione's. "I remembered a few words that the brightest witch of her age told me on our first date. She told me that life's too short to not take risks. So if we want to jump, we'll jump together. And Granger, I want to jump with you. I want to spend every single second of my life with you, through the good and the bad"

Draco was there now, he walked up the last few steps as he finally came face to face with her. He stepped closer to her, letting her scent of strawberries and coconut cloud his senses. He had missed that smell so much. "When I think about you with him, it guts me. I feel like you ripped open my chest and tore out my damn heart. Do you even realise that? I know I should want you to be happy, but I can't wish it for anyone else other than me. I belong to you, and that's never going to change. I know that I don't really have a right to be saying all of this right here and right now. But I was a coward, I ran after you rejected me after our break up. I thought you never wanted to see me again. But I'm here now and I never want to leave your side again"

"Don't you think you're forgetting about something, or someone?" Ernie hissed, trying to push Hermione out of the way to get to Draco but that was a mistake. Draco growled and took a menacing step towards Ernie, gloating in the fact that the Hufflepuff now looked down right scared and had began to back off.

"Oh, I haven't forgot about you Macmillan. But if you don't mind, I'm trying to win the love of my life back. I'm interested in her as a person, not her name or history. And certainly not because she's a third of the Golden Trio" Draco frowned, he had been keeping up with the tabs that the tabloids were printing and he had even checked a few sources for himself to see if Ernie was being legit in his advances of Hermione's and sure enough, he wasn't. Many were saying that Ernie was marrying Hermione to get his foot in the door at the Ministry, others were saying he wanted the press. But all were correct in saying that he was just using Hermione.

Ernie backed down at Malfoy's words, ignoring the angry looks he was receiving from Hermione. She slowly turned back to face Draco, the scent of his cologne now drifting to her nose and she inhaled deeply, trying to memorise the scent in case she woke up and this was all a dream.

"Draco" She whispered, it felt good to say his name again

"Don't say anything" Draco smiled, grabbing Hermione by the waist and dipping her so low that her loose hair was almost touching the ground. Their eyes met and in that moment they both felt that familiar pull, fate was bringing them together again. Without saying another word Draco captured Hermione's lips with his own, the contact sending shockwaves through their body as the contact became real. Hermione dragged her fingers up Draco's back, onto his neck and finally into his hair where she gripped the long strands between her fingers and pulled gently. She smirked in success as she heard Draco groan slightly, they teased each other back and forth before they both needed to break for air, and also remembered they were in a public place

The crowd hadn't said a word and were still entranced at the events that had just transpired. Draco chuckled and pulled Hermione back to her feet, steadying her first and making sure she could stand before turning back to the crowd. "Listen up and listen up good. My name is Draco Lucius Malfoy, and I am irrevocably in love with Hermione Jean Granger. Anyone that has any comments, snide remarks or negative responses may forward these to Malfoy Manor, addressed to Lucius Malfoy as..." Draco paused, glancing at Hermione and giving her a sly wink

"My father will want to hear about this"

_From now on!_   
_These eyes will not be blinded by the lights!_   
_From now on!_   
_What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight!_   
_It starts tonight!_   
_Let this promise in me start_   
_Like an anthem in my heart_

_From now on!_   
_From now on!_   
_From now on!_

_And we will come back home_  
 _And we will co_ me back home  
Home again!

With that Draco grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her down the aisle as they began to run together, on the way out Hermione caught her father's eye who was giving her a look of approval and happiness as she got what she had longed for so long.

 


	14. Out of the Darkness - Charlie and Tonks

Tonks leaned against the counter, sipping on her warm cup of tea as she watched Charlie Weasley and her young son Teddy playing in the living room. It had been a few years since the war and a lot had changed since then; she had to get used to living her life without her husband everyday and lost a lot of other people along the way. She still felt the ache and pain of losing Remus but with every growing year the pain was slightly dulling and the person she had to thank for that was now standing in her living room, helping her young son to sit on a training Quidditch broom.

Charlie had been there for her ever since Remus had died, he had been the first one to console her as she stared at her husband's lifeless body on the floor of the Great Hall, his arm still outstretched trying to hold her hand. She had been so in shock she hadn't known how to react, the sudden loss of the man she loved overwhelmed her and she didn't know what to do. As Charlie had entered the Great Hall he had taken one look at her and rushed over, his eyes gazing down at the older man's body and his heart broke for her. He enveloped her in a tight embrace and whispered in her ear, telling her that everything was going to be okay and that she would get through this.

But how could she when she had not long found out she was pregnant with Remus' child, although he had been hesitant at first, Remus had grown excited over the early months of her pregnancy, even with the War looming. Their unborn baby had been a sign of better times to come and as Dumbledore had said, Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. And their baby had been their light.

Her heart had been heavy with the realisation that Remus would never get to see their son grow up to be a wonderful young wizard, he wouldn't be there to see his first steps or read bed time stories to him at night. Those thoughts always brought tears to Tonks eyes, she hated that Remus was gone. She hated that he had been taken away from her so soon. And for a while Tonks was angry, angrier than she had ever been.

But then Charlie came along, he had moved back home after the death of Fred and the two bonded over their losses. They had always been great friends during their time at Hogwarts together and Tonks had always felt bad for falling out of touch with Charlie. But as soon as he was back it was like he had never left. And soon, Tonks found herself beginning to heal. Her broken and angry heart was slowly beginning to heal and Charlie had been the one to help her. She could never repay Charlie enough for bringing her back from the brink of darkness.

Now here she was, standing in her kitchen watching the grown dragon tamer and her young son bonding over their love of Qudditch, leaving her to wonder just how she had fallen for the second eldest Weasley. Not that it took much wondering because Charlie was a great man, but her heart had been so broken and she was adamant that she was not going to allow herself to open up to another man like she had with Remus. But Charlie was different, he didn't ask anything of her and didn't pressure her into anything. He had slipped under her skin without her knowing and slowly she begun to realise that she had feelings for him. But she couldn't tell him, she would risk too much and she didn't want her heart to be broken if he rejected her. She didn't want to go near the darkness again.

A high pitched laugh broke her out of her thoughts and memories, she entered the living room and smiled as she found Teddy zooming slowly around the living room on his broom. Charlie stood at the edge, watching with a proud grin as he cheered Teddy on. Tonks felt her heart melt at the sight, she didn't know if Charlie wanted kids or not but he was certainly good with them.

"Go Teddy!" She grinned as Teddy looked up at her, a proud and joyful smile on his face

"Look Mum! I'm doing it!"

"You certainly are buddy"

Tonks grinned, reaching over as he passed her and ruffling his ginger hair that he so often changed to when Charlie or a Weasley family member came to visit.

Charlie stepped around Teddy as he passed by again, now standing beside Tonks. "He's a quick learner"

Tonks nodded, "Takes after his Father" She whispered

The two fell silent, both hurting at the mention of Remus, but it was the truth. Teddy was every bit like his father; he was quiet but could be mischievous when he wanted to be, he had a thirst to learn and most importantly, he was loyal. Teddy was everything she could want in a child. She was just sad Remus couldn't be here to see it.

A gentle pressure on her hand again brought her out of her thoughts, she glanced down and now saw that Charlie's hand was holding her's, giving it a small squeeze and as she looked back up to meet his eyes, Charlie was now wearing a sad smile. "Can we talk? In private"

"Sure" Tonks nodded, walking back into the kitchen and making sure to stay near the door to keep an eye on Teddy, even though the Quidditch broom had stabilisers and only hovered a few inches off the ground she was still afraid he would fall and hurt himself.

"What's up Char?"

Charlie chewed his lip nervously, this had been the first time in a long time he had felt this nervous but he couldn't help it. What he was about to say would either work out wonderfully or ruin their friendship entirely. But he couldn't hold it in any longer, he had to tell her the truth. For the first time in a long time, Charlie Weasley was putting his heart on the line.

"Tonks" He began, scratching the back of his head before taking a deep breath to continue. "I'm glad we've got to reconnect this past while. I've missed your company, and forgot about all the amazing memories we have together"

Tonks felt her heart thumping against her chest, ready to burst at any moment.

"I'm sorry for what happened to Remus" Charlie held a breath as he watched her, seeing the sadness flicker in her eyes but it was brief. The look of sadness that turned into something different, something he couldn't put his finger on. "If I could go back in time and bring Remus back for you I would"

Tonks felt like there was going to be a 'but' here

"But"

There it was

"I'm going to be selfish for a moment here" Charlie said truthfully. "And it's going to be quite brazen of me but I need to get this off my chest and I need you to hear it before I drive myself crazy" He grinned

"And here I thought you were already crazy" Tonks teased playfully

Charlie quirked an eyebrow but grinned, "I am crazy" He agreed. "I'm crazy in love with you" He whispered

Tonks felt her heart stop momentarily as she heard what he said, he couldn't have said what she think he said, could he? She felt her mouth drop open in surprise as she gaped at him. She couldn't believe this was happening, their relationship had been progressing for some time now but she had though it was only her feelings that had changed into something more than friends.

"I am 100% in love with you. And I know that's really selfish to say after everything that you've been through" Charlie gulped. "I don't want to replace Remus, I know that I could never replace as you two had such a strong and special relationship. But I want to be here for you and Teddy, I love both of you so incredibly much and you both deserve all the happiness in the world. I want to give you that. I don't want to watch some other guy do that. These past few months I've debated with myself whether or not to tell you. I know you've had such a hard time getting over Remus but...If you could give me a shot to make you happy again, I would love that"

Tonks felt the tears beginning, she sniffled and Charlie's eyes widened, thinking he had hurt her feelings he pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly. "Tonks...I'm sorry. I should..I should never have..."

Charlie was cut off by the warm pleasant feeling of lips touching his own, his eyes widened in surprise as he realised that Tonks was kissing him. Actually kissing him. He had dreamt of this moment for a while now, it felt surreal to finally do it. His body relaxed and he responded to her kiss, letting one hand remain on her bank but placed the other on the nape of her neck as he pulled her flush against him.

The two remained in a tender embrace before Tonks pulled away, her cheeks flushed and eyes alight with happiness. She smiled up at Charlie, "Silly man" She giggled. "You don't have to be sorry for anything. You've done so much for Teddy and I, we're so grateful to you" Tonks moved her hand and placed it on Charlie's stubbled cheek. "You're right, you can't replace Remus and no one can"

Charlie nodded, his heart falling at what he thought might be a rejection. "But our love story has ended. You've helped me so much Char, you were the one to pull me back from the darkness. You were the one to stay with me during those lonely hours as I lay in bed and cried myself to sleep. You were there for me. You've been there for Teddy. You're the man he looks up to and you're the man he wants to be like when he grows up. You are everything to us both"

Charlie sucked in a breath as he took in her passionate words, he had been waiting what felt like a lifetime for this moment and here it finally was, he was going to cherish every moment of it.

"I love you Charlie Weasley. So damn much"

"I love you too Nymphadora Tonks"

"Don't. Call. Me. Nympahdora"

 

 


	15. Crossing A Line - Draco and Hermione

_"You'll learn, as you get older, that rules are made to be broken. Be bold enough to live life on your terms, and never, ever apologise for it. Go against the grain, refuse to conform, take the road less travelled instead of the well-beaten path. Laugh in the face of adversity, and leap before you look. Dance as though EVERYBODY is watching. March to the beat of your own drummer. And stubbornly refuse to fit in."_   
**\- Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass**

Draco sipped on his punch as his eyes narrowed at the brown, curly haired witch along with the red headed Weasel she was dancing with. She deserved better and he knew it. His fingers tightened around the glass he was holding, if he had super strength the glass would have been pulverised into dust by now. The anger that was coursing through him was stronger than normal and he hated it.

He hated her for making him feel like this.

But that wasn't the truth, Draco didn't hate Hermione. He didn't hate her one bit. In fact, he was in love with her and had been since third year when she punched him right in the jaw. Sometimes he swore he could still feel a twinge in his jaw. What he did hate though was seeing Hermione dancing with the Weasel. He wasn't good enough for her, Hermione deserved the world and he wanted to be the one to give it to her. As he watched Ron twirl Hermione around the edge of the dance floor he felt his jaw tighten, he was ready to aim the glass directly at his head when he felt a calming hand on his shoulder. He turned slightly to see Blaise smirking at him.

"And here I was thinking that you were going to be discreet about your little infatuation with Granger" He smirked

Draco rolled his eyes, "I can't help it" He muttered, eyes drifting back over to Hermione. "Especially when she's dancing with the Weasel. I can't stand it"

Blaise nodded, his own eyes falling on the unlikely couple of Pansy and Goyle, his own heart aching at the sight of his affections enjoying the ball with someone else. "Believe me I know the feeling"

Draco glanced at his friend in surprise, it wouldn't be often that Blaise would open up about his feelings.

"Anyway, this isn't about me" Blaise shrugged. "This is about you and what you're going to do about Hermione. You need to do something otherwise someone else" He nodded in Ron's direction. "Might already have her affections"

Draco snorted, seeing Hermione and Ron together in a romantic relationship would be the day when pigs would fly. They wouldn't work as a couple, no matter how much everyone else wanted them to work. But he just hoped he could make Hermione see that. He knew he had been a jerk to her in the past but he wanted to prove to her that he was different, that he didn't hold those prejudices that he once had. It was time for him to be a man and not care about what anyone else thinks. Draco Malfoy needed to be selfish again.

"Come on dude, you're Draco freakin Malfoy. If anyone can get the girl, it's you" Blaise patted him on the back with a grin

"Thanks for the pep talk Zabini" Draco drawled, a smirk appearing on his face as he glanced at his friend. "And yes, I'll help you come up with a plan to get Parkinson"

Blaise's eyes widened in surprise, he had thought he had been discreet with his looks at her. Well, more discreet than Draco anyway. But evidently he was wrong. He shuffled awkwardly on the spot before Draco laughed, shaking his head and a smiled. "You're not the only one who hasn't been discreet. Well to me anyway but we're two fools in love so we can't help it. And here's hoping we can win over the girls"

With that Draco shoved his glass into his friend's hand as he began taking strides to where Hermione was now standing, her dance partner now forgotten as she stood at the drinks table by herself. As he got closer to her he could feel the nerves beginning to build, and for once in his life Draco felt truly terrified. He had never been this scared or nervous to ask a girl out before. It was probably down to the fact that he knew what Hermione was capable of, she was the brightest witch of their age after all.

Just as he approached the table he paused to take a deep breath before finally taking a place beside her, he silently filled up a new glass of punch while Hermione was yet to notice his presence. After a few moments of silence Draco realised he was going to be the one who needed to break the silence.

"Granger" He spoke softly so as not to alarm her

Hermione spun round in surprise, finding none other than Draco Malfoy standing on front of her. She gulped, eyeing his hands for any sign of his wand but when she realised it was all clear she sighed in relief. "Yes, Malfoy?"

Draco felt his mouth go dry, he didn't think she would speak to him but that was one of the hardest steps over with. He took a sip of his drink to try cool himself down. "Has your date wandered off and left you all alone?"

Hermione frowned, he wasn't being mean or taunting her, it seemed like he was trying to have a genuine conversation. "I didn't attend with anyone" She shrugged, taking a glance at the dance floor.

"Strange, I thought when I saw you and We--Ron" Draco winced at using his actual name, but if he wanted to show her he had changed then he needed to at least try to appear civil towards her friends. "When I saw you and Ron dancing together I thought you two had come together to finally announce your relationship to the whole of Hogwarts"

Hermione was silent for a moment and Draco's fear grew as he realised that she might confirm her relationship status at any point, but he was pleasantly surprised when Hermione broke out into a fit of laughter. Draco couldn't fight the grin that appeared on his face as he watched and listened to her laugh, he watched as her nose crinkled up ever so slightly and it had to be the cutest thing he had ever seen. Not that he would like to admit that he finds anything cute. But in this moment, she was the most breathtaking witch he had ever seen.

Slowly Hermione's laughter quietened down and she beamed a dazzling smile at him, "Oh Draco" She giggled as Draco felt his heart flutter at the sound of his name on her lips. "Ron and I aren't together. And I don't think we ever will be, firstly he has his eyes set on someone else" Hermione nodded her head in the direction of Ron and a blonde girl who Draco could only assume to be Lavender Brown, embroiled in a very intense make out session on the dance floor.

"And secondly, Ron and I are friends. We're only ever going to be friends. I'd much rather be with a Wizard whose more...Mature. And doesn't have the emotional range of a teaspoon" Hermione smirked. Draco knew from her words there was a story in there somewhere but right now he didn't want to ask any more questions about Ron. Now that he knew she was single he wanted to woo her.

"So why are you speaking to me Draco?"

Draco inhaled deeply, she always had been a curious one. "I want to show you something"

"Show me what exactly?" Hermione questioned, "This isn't some trick is it? Your Slytherin friends aren't going to come up and prank me are they?" She looked quickly over her shoulder to make sure the coast was clear.

Draco couldn't help but chuckle, without saying another word he took both of their glasses and sat them back on the table. "No, no one is going to come up and prank you from behind Granger. I know this is a lot to ask of you right now" He smiled softly much to the surprise of Hermione, she hadn't seen him smile before, only a smirk. This was a whole new side he was showing to her. "But trust me" He held out his hand towards her, hoping that she would take it.

Hermione glanced at it warily, unsure whether or not to trust him, even through all of the years of hell he had put her and her friends through something in her gut was telling her to trust him. This side of Draco she was getting to see was a side she quite liked, and she just hoped that it wouldn't be a facade just to try get a few laughs from his friends. Hermione pursed her lips for a moment, glancing between his hand and his eyes that shone bright with hope. She felt a pair of eyes upon her and glanced to the side to see Ginny and Harry staring at her with curiosity and confusion, just behind them was Blaze Zabini who was trying to keep the grin off his face.

Throwing caution to the wind Hermione finally placed her hand in Draco's, gasping at the sudden bolt of electricity that shot through her body. Draco grinned at her and pulled her towards the dance floor just as the song was changing a slower song.

_They'll tell you I don't care anymore_   
_And I hope you'll know that's a lie_   
_Cause I've found what I have been waiting for_   
_But to get there means crossing a line_

_I don't know how to warn you for what I'm gonna say_   
_Cause you're holding so tight to what I'm taking away_   
_I got demons inside me so I'm faced with a choice_   
_Either try to ignore them or I give them a voice_

Hermione barely took in the words or the meaning of the song as Draco was wrapping his arms around her waist and her hands had automatically slid themselves onto the nape of his neck. They both stared at each other in surprise, both enjoying the warm feeling of contact from each other.

_And it's keeping me up at night_   
_Worried it's not alright_   
_Holding back things you don't know_   
_And it's keeping me up at night_   
_Worried it's not alright_   
_You're not gonna like where this goes_

_And they'll tell you I don't care anymore_   
_And I hope you'll know that's a lie_   
_Cause I've found what I have been waiting for_   
_But to get there means crossing a line_   
_So I'm crossing a line_

Hermione could feel the stares on her back but for once in her life she didn't care, she was done with the rumours and the gossip. She wanted to enjoy the rest of her time at Hogwarts even if it meant she was subject to ridicule. Right now she was just concentrating on being in the Slytherin Princes' arms and actually enjoying it. Draco who was sensing the cogs turning in her brain just smiled and pulled her closer.

"Hermione" He whispered

Hermione gulped as she felt his warm breath on air, between that and him saying her first name for the first time sent shivers down her spine. "Y-Yes Draco"

"I just want you to know that I'm sorry" He admitted, pulling back to look her in the eyes. "For everything. Over the past 6 years I have been an absolute prat to you...And you're friends" He shot a look towards Harry and Ginny, maybe they weren't so bad but he absolutely drew the line at being friends with the boy Weasel. Civil he could do, but not friends. "This may not excuse my behaviour but a lot of my prejudices and beliefs were forced into me by my Father. And I hate the fact that I let him bury those stereotypes into my brain" He frowned, he certainly felt a lot of anger and resentment towards his Father, but he had finally received his comeuppance and had been imprisoned in Azkaban.

Hermione's mouth dropped open slightly in surprise, of all the things she could have imagined happening tonight at the House Ball, she didn't think Draco Malfoy apologising to her would be one of them. She went to speak but Draco shook his head, signalling that he wasn't finished just yet.

"I wish I had known when I was younger that it's not always about blood status. Everyone is unique in their own way and talent comes in all shapes and forms. So I'm sorry Hermione, for everything. Especially for calling you that dreaded M word" Draco shuddered and so did Hermione, both flinching at the memories.

_It's not about status, we know it never was_   
_Cause what good is the kingdom when you're missing the love_   
_This is not a goodbye now, I'm not going away_   
_No I don't have the answers but I do have the faith_

_And it's keeping me up at night_   
_Worried it's not alright_   
_Holding back things you don't know_   
_And it's keeping me up at night_   
_Worried it's not alright_   
_You're not gonna like where this goes, no_

"I don't think whenever we first met that I was really upset about your status. Well, I know it was never that. Whenever I first saw you, bushy hair and all, I knew deep down that I would never be able to have you in my life and that made me angry. It made me resent you and I hate myself for that" Draco sighed, looking down at his feet as they slowly turned in circles. "But what I've now come to realise is that the Slytherin Prince is alone in his Kingdom, but the kingdom is missing something. And that's love" Draco felt his heart hammering inside of his chest, he was close to admitting how he truly felt about her and for the moment she didn't seem like she was going to run. Hermione herself felt the tears sting at her eyes, he seemed so sincere, the look of genuine hurt and pain in his eyes was enough to tell her how sorry he was.

"You might not like where this goes, or what I say next but please listen to me Hermione" Draco raised a hand and gently placed it on her cheek, allowing his thumb to stroke her soft skin up and down repeatedly. "I am terribly sorry for all the hurt and pain I've caused you. I don't expect you to forgive me if you want to continue hating me then that's fine. I just needed to tell you how I feel before I drove myself crazy"

Hermione felt her breath hitch as Draco spun her around and in one fluid movement he dipped her so low that her loose curls were almost touching the dance floor. Her eyes flickered from Draco's eyes to his lips and back, something which did not go unnoticed by Draco.

"I forgive you" Hermione whispered, much to the surprise of Draco. "I've actually forgiven you for quite a while now. As hard as it may be for other people to understand, it's easy for me. I know your childhood wasn't the best and you had to grow up a lot sooner than the rest of us did. Nothing that happened was your fault Draco. You were thrust into a life that you didn't want. I couldn't hold that against you"

Draco shook his head but smiled, "You know Granger, you surprise me everyday"

Hermione smirked, "I do try" She murmured, acutely aware that all eyes were now on them as they remained in their pose. "And Draco?"

"Hmm?"

"Please, call me Hermione"

"As you wish"

Draco grinned before swooping in and capturing Hermione's lips with his own, it was as wonderful as he had imagined. Her lips were so soft and warm, fitting perfectly against his own. He slowly pulled her back upright before entangling his hand in the bottom of her hair, attempting to pull her closer if that was possible. The two remained in their embrace for a while longer all the while their friends and other students stood in shock watching the pair of them, the Hall remained silent as everyone was too in shock to even gossip.

Until over by the corner of the hall a loud shout was heard, "WOO! Go Draco and Granger"

All eyes looked round to find Blaise shrinking into the corner and behind Goyle who was tall enough to shield him from view. The sudden commotion broke Draco and Hermione out of their embrace but still neither looked away from each other.

"Would you like to cross the line with me Hermione?"

"I certainly would Draco"

Hermione grinned and took Draco's hand once more as he led her from the Great Hall to enjoy the rest evening by themselves.

 


	16. I'll See You Again - James and Lily

_"Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchange_ d

**\- Henry Scott Holland, Death Is Nothing at All**

"Lily!"

Lily jumped from her spot at the curtains she had just been gazing out of a moment beforehand, her paranoia was slowly getting worse but that was to be expected with their current situation. She clutched Harry to her chest tightly, squeezing him as if he was going to disappear in a moment's notice. James walked through the door, his heart dropping as he caught sight of his wife and their young son, the pain of not being able to see their son grow up and become a wonderful wizard was overwhelming. He had never truly dreamt of becoming a Dad until Lily told him he was pregnant, but since they had Harry his life truly felt complete. He had his family and that's all he needed.

Lily and James' eyes connected, a sad longing look passed in their eyes as they realised what they must do. They had to protect their son, they had to make sure his future was set. They knew Dumbledore would arrange everything for the, however who Harry was going to stay with was a sore point for Lily, as much as she loved her sister to death, they were all too aware of Petunia's stance on magic.

Lily took a deep breath, not allowing her tears to fall as she clutched onto Harry. "Is it time?" She asked James, her voice barely a whisper.

James gulped but nodded. "It is" He sighed and walked over to his family, enveloping them in a tight embrace as they shared what would be their last few moments with their son.

"When will we send it?"

"In a moment" James pecked her hair, "I want to share these last few minutes with my family. I want to remember all the good times together, us getting married and then finding out we're pregnant with Harry. Every single bit of it"

A silence fell between the two, the only noise coming from an unaware Harry who was currently sucking on his thumb as he was cradled by his Mother. Lily felt the fear begin to rise and she couldn't help but let the tears fall. "I don't want to go James" She cried. "I don't want to leave Harry or you. I want to stay here, with my family. I don't want to go"

James pulled her into a tight hug, shutting his eyes as his own tears threatened to fall, he rocked them gently and when Lily fell silent he spoke. "I know, I don't want to leave either. But there's nothing we can. He would find us anywhere we went. Dumbledore done his best to hide us, but it wasn't enough. Harry will learn when he's older what his parents died for, and why they done it. He'll make us proud"

Lily sniffed and nodded, "You can go send it now"

James nodded and set off to the kitchen, he pulled his wand out of his back pocket and conjured a patronus to send to Sirius Black, one of his closest friends since his Hogwarts days. "Sirius, by the time you receive this message it'll be too late. He's coming. We're sending Harry to stay with his Muggle relatives, a choice not taken lightly. As his Godfather, when he comes of age and learns of his heritage we want you to train him, take him under your wing and guide him. We'll always be watching. Watch over him for us Sirius."

With another flick of his wand the patronus darted through the window and off into the black of night. He knew that Sirius would try and come in time to stop this from happening, but James knew in the pit of the stomach by the time he got here it would be too late. Their fates had been sealed and no one could change that.

James had to be brave, not for him but for his family. With a deep breath he went back into the living room, finding Lily peeking out of the curtains again. A look of fear in her eyes, she turned to face James, her face now a sickly shade of white. "I...I heard a noise. It sounded like someone apparated"

James nodded, taking a quick look out the window and immediately stiffened "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! I'll hold him off! Take Harry upstairs, lock the door and barricade yourselves in. I know it won't stop him, but it might delay him. Go. Go!" James yelled

Lily held onto Harry tightly as she headed for the living room door, before she went she pulled James into a searing kiss, putting all of her emotions and love into that one kiss. James pulled away with a hint of a smirk on his face before the situation hit him again. He placed a gentle and caring hand on Lily's cheek and smiled, "I know. I love you too, and I love you Harry" James kissed his son on the head, taking one long look at him as he said goodbye. "Daddy loves you Harry, always remember that. Your Mummy and I will see you again"

Lily held back the tears as she ran from the room with one last look at James, he was now standing at the bottom of the stairs making sure they got up safely. He took a deep breath and looked at the front door. Everything was silent, he couldn't hear any movement from outside but he knew that Voldemort was there. He was here and everything was about to change. James grabbed his wand from his back pocket, mentally thinking of all the curses and spells he could think of even though he knew they were going to do him no good.

It was when he heard the upstairs door shut that everything changed, it had stayed silent for a moment before the handle on the front door slowly began to turn, James braced himself as the door swung open, revealing a dark and hooded figure. James raised his wand, his eyes narrowing at the figure before him, but before he could utter a single curse, the hiss like voice of Voldemort rung out into the night air.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A flash of green light headed straight towards him before hitting him square in the chest, his eyes widened slightly at the sudden contact but then James went still, his lifeless body falling onto the foot of the stairs. As Voldemort glided past his body, a single tear ran down the cheek of Harry Potter's father.

Lily could hear the commotion downstairs, she held in a sob as she placed Harry in his cot, making sure to lock the door even though that would do no good. She bent down on front of the crib and stared at her son was staring at her with a look of concern, almost as if he knew what was happening.

"Harry. Harry, you are loved. You are so loved. Harry, Mama loves you. Dada loves you. Harry, be safe. Be strong" Lily kissed her hand and then placed it on her son's cheek, just hoping that Harry would always know just how loved he was. With one final look at him, she stood up and turned as the door blasted open. The hooded figure of Voldemort glided into the room, Lily threw her arms out to the side, shielding Harry from what she knew was about to happen to her.

"Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy.... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything!"

But Voldemort didn't listen, after her helpless pleas he raised his wand and uttered the dark curse once again. "Avada Kedavra!"

The green beam of light hit Lily Potter directly in the chest, and just as her husband had, she fell to the floor with a thud. Harry glanced down at the un-moving body of his mother, although he was too young to understand what had happened he begun to cry for his Mother, longing for her to hold him again.

 


	17. Stuck In A Predicament - Ron and Luna

Ron hummed to himself as he made his way towards the secret passageway to get himself to Honeydukes, he had been craving some of their finest chocolate since the beginning of the week and now he could almost taste it. The past few months had been quite stressful and Ron had found himself indulging in food a little too often. His shirts were now too snug and his pants too tight. Even his robes were beginning to rip a little on the arms because it was so tight. This wouldn't have happened if he hadn't of injured himself during Quidditch training which has put him out for months, or if Hermione hadn't broke it off with him before they even started dating.

The thought of Hermione stung his heart slightly, even though he had moved on from his crush, the memory of being let down on front of the entire house of Gryffindor in their common room still embarrassed him to this day. He tried to repress the memory of his face turning red, cursing at Hermione and then storming out of the room but his mind wouldn't let him forget. It didn't help that Hermione had seemed to forget all about it and was now back to her know-it-all self, but he knew she was hiding something because she had been a bit too happy to help him and Harry with their potion essay.

As Ron got to the humped back Witch statue he shook the thought of Hermione away and started to think about the taste of the Honeyduke's chocolate and how it felt when the chocolate started to melt in his mouth. Ron always liked to savour his sweets, especially chocolate. Whenever he managed to get himself a piece he would often let the piece of confectionery sit on his tongue and allow it to melt until the velvety chocolate covered his whole mouth. He shivered in delight at the thought. Ron took his wand from his robes, tapped the Witch one on her hump and whispered. "Dissendium"

With a jolt, the hump slowly opened to reveal a small opening, just big enough for someone to slip through. Ron grinned and almost jumped through the gap, it was tight fight but as he pushed his upper body further into the hole the tighter it seemed to get. With a huff Ron gave up pushing, finally admitting to himself the one thing he had never wanted to happen.

"I'm stuck"

\----------

Luna skipped down the hall, cradling a large stack of the fresh edition of the Quibbler in her arms, she handed them out to each and every student she passed, proud of being able to help her father's words reach a bigger audience. Sure she may have gotten some laughs, especially from the Slytherin students, but once people started reading them they couldn't stop. "Nargles and Wracksputs do come in handy sometimes" She sighed wistfully.

Luna paused for a moment, glancing at the corridor she was in and recognising it as the Defence Against the Dark Arts hall. Maybe their Professor would like the newest edition too. She turned to go back the way she came when something rather large caught her eye, she cocked her head and walked towards it so she could see what it was more clearly. When Luna realised it was the behind of someone who was stuck in a very funny predicament she couldn't help but giggle.

"Whose out there?!" The voice was muffled considering the person was stuck headfirst in the wall but Luna had her own way of finding out who it was, she glanced down at the shoes and recognised them almost immediately

"Oh, hello Ron!" Luna grinned even though he couldn't see her

"Luna? Is that you?" Ron breathed a sigh of relief, maybe she would be able to help him. Even as barmy as she was she probably knew a good spell for this, she was a Ravenclaw after all.

"Yes it's me, I was just handing out some of the new copies of the Quibbler. Would you like one Ron?"

Ron rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to be sarcastic he just sighed. "You know Luna, I really would. But I have a bit of a problem"

"Oh really? Have the Wrackspurts gotten into your head again? I'll have to get you that recipe I gave you before. It really does help y---"

Ron cut her off by swearing loudly, but Luna just chose to ignore it. "No, the Wrackspurts have not gotten into my head" He muttered. "I'm stuck"

Luna giggled again, her eyes staring at his behind which was protruding from the wall. "It does seem that way. Would you like some help?"

"That would be wonderful!"

Luna nodded, with a determined look in her eyes and after rolling up her sleeves, she gave a great shove against Ron's behind, hoping to feel him budge just a little but instead got nothing in return. "Did you try?" He asked

"Yes" Luna nodded, forgetting again that he couldn't see her

"And?" Ron pressed

"Nothing"

"Crap"

Luna grinned, "I have an idea!" She walked backwards until her back hit against the wall opposite, she crouched down and prepared herself. "Get ready Ron!"

"Get ready?" Ron frowned in confusion, "Get ready for what---OWWW!"

Before he could finish his sentence Luna had taken a running start towards him, and just before reaching him she turned so her shoulder was pointing towards him. She pushed against his behind with as much force as she could muster but Ron only moved a little bit.

"Luna?" The girl remained silent, but still listened. "Can you not try, uh, magic?"

"I could, but that might hurt"

Ron rolled his eyes, trust the girl who just rammed in him in the butt to care now about hurting him. "I think I can handle it"

"Are you sure? Because I don't want to hurt you, I don't like hurting the people I care about"

It was Ron's time to be silent, it wouldn't be often that you would hear Luna go so serious about something, and something in his heart warmed up at her words. His cheeks began to flush and just for this moment, he was glad to be stuck inside of a wall so she couldn't see him blush. Come to think of it, Luna had always been very protective of her friends. How come he had never noticed it before? Probably as he was too busy trying to come to terms with his feelings with Hermione but look where that got him now.

"T-Thank you Luna"

"You're welcome" Luna smiled, still staring at her friend in the wall and trying to think of a way to get him out of there. For the next couple of minutes she tried everything she could, she ran into him again, lay on her back and used her to feet to try push him through, she even pressed her back to his bum and pushed with all her might but it was no use.

"Okay" Luna gave in, taking out her wand. "I'll use a spell that Professor Flitwick taught us in charms, but...It will hurt you know"

"That's okay" Ron braced himself

"And Ron?"

"Yes"

"Mind your head"

Ron quickly tucked his head in and covered it with his hands as he heard utter 'Repulso', within a second of her casting the spell a large pressure hit him, almost like someone giving you a boot up the backside. It had such force that with a loud POP, Ron went shooting forward into the tunnel. He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the blood flowing around his lower half again.

"Oh thank Merlin" He whimpered, rubbing his now sore sides. He sat up and began to dust himself off when the blonde hair of Luna caught his eye. She was peering through the hole in wonder, her blue eyes sparkling with curiosity and concern for him.

"Are you okay Ron?"

"Much better now, thank you Luna"

Ron rose to his feet and smiled at her, the two fell into a quiet silent and he found himself growing more nervous by the second. He had never felt this way for Hermione before, he had definitely not been this nervous to speak to her before and he couldn't tell if that was just because she had grown up with him and Harry, or if what he thought was feelings for her were actually real. But now here he was standing in a musty tunnel with Luna. Who, with the more he stared at her, became prettier the longer he stared at her. He shuffled slightly before glancing down at his feet, his heart and head were saying two different things but for once in his life, Ron decided to go with his heart

"Luna?"

"Yes Ron" She smiled, and Ron felt his heart quicken as he saw how happy she looked

"Would...Would you like to come with me to Honeydukes?"

"Really?" Luna stared at him, wondering if it was a trick, usually people didn't invite her places often.

"Sure"

Luna glanced at the copies of her Quibbler that had been abandoned on her quest to help Ron, she quickly picked them up before smiling at him again. "I'd like that"

"Great, come on then"

Luna shuffled through the small tunnel until she was standing on front of him, clutching the paper tightly to her chest. "Can we try and give the owners some of these? My Father would love it if we could"

Ron chuckled and nodded, taking his own copy from her hands. "Sure"

"Ron?"

"Yes Luna"

"The Wrackspurts are in your head again"

"Okay Luna, okay" Ron smiled as the two walked down the passageway together, maybe something good has came of him getting stuck in the wall after all.

 


	18. The First Change - Remus Lupin

Remus Lupin had always been a nice, well mannered and polite young man. If he saw his neighbours out in their gardens he would stop and ask them how their day was. He would help their elderly muggle neighbours with their shopping, often taking a trip to the shops with them so they had some company. He wouldn't say anything out of turn and would always be back in time for curfew.

So it was a strange occurrence when one Monday evening, he didn't return by his curfew. And he didn't return an hour after, or an hour after that. Remus' parents became quite worried and gathered a search party, of their Wizarding neighbours, to help them find their lost son.

Remus had been so busy searching the forest by their house for some flowers for his Mum that he didn't notice just what time it was. He was quite surprised when he picked his last flower, joined it to the bunch he already had and took a look around him to find the clearing in darkness.

"Oh no, I'm late!" Remus sighed, hoping he wouldn't be in too much trouble with his parents.

It was silent all around Remus as he glanced around the clearing trying to find his way out but with how dark it was he couldn't see a thing. He slid his wand out of his pocket, knowing that there wouldn't be any muggles about at this time and was ready to utter Lumos when he heard something shifting in the trees. His breath almost stopped entirely and his heart thumped unevenly against his chest as he listened for the sound again.

Silence. Not even the noise of an Owl could be heard.

CRACK

Remus jumped as a tree branch snapped behind him, he spun round so fast he thought he had gave himself whiplash. "Lumos" He whispered, a blinding white light shot out of his wand, illuminating the figure that had suddenly appeared behind him. Remus almost let out a yell of surprise but thought better of it when he saw the look in the man's eyes. He didn't look happy at all.

The man standing before him had to be at least 6 foot tall, he was wearing a long, dark trench cut which was dirty and worn in some places. He didn't seem to be wearing a shirt which Remus found quite odd but it was his facial features that terrified Remus the most. Hair surrounded the man's face everywhere, and he had great bushy eyebrows. His eyes were a light blue but that didn't make Remus feel any better. The man looked angry. Really angry.

"Who...Who are you?" Remus sniffed, trying to sound brave but it failed when his voice squeaked at the end

The man chuckled, a sneer on his face as he sniffed the air. "Who am I? Boy, you should know how I am!" He growled, resembling the snarl of a dog. "I'm Fenrir Greyback"

Remus gulped, he knew exactly who this man was now. He had heard his father's telling stories to his Mother about the mayhem and attacks he had caused. How he had ripped someone's arm clean off their shoulder when he transformed during the full moon. He was one of the most wanted men in Britain. Remus knew he should be afraid, very afraid. His eyes began darting around, trying to find a way to leave without being harmed.

"I can smell the fear rippling through your body now" Fenrir chuckled, taking a step closer to Remus. "Ripe. Everyone always tastes better when they're afraid" He grinned

"Stay away from me! I'm warning you!" Remus raised his wand so it was not pointing directly in between Fenrir's eyes but all that made him do was laugh.

"You think some Hogwarts jinx is going to stop me? Try again boy"

"I know curses! Lots of them. I'll curse you into oblivion"

Fenrir growled and before Remus could react he was pinned up against the tree with Fenrir's arm against his throat. He grasped at the dirty sleeve and tried to pry the arm off of him, but it was no use. He was much larger and a lot stronger than Remus was. He didn't stand a chance.

"W-What are you going to do to me?"

"Play with you for a bit" Fenrir smirked. "And then kill you"

Remus paled instantly

"Or turn you. I haven't quite decided"

If possible Remus went even paler. He would rather be dead than be a Werewolf.

"My parents are looking for me. They'll be here any second and they'll stop you. You won't get away with this"

Fenrir rolled his eyes and laughed, "I've been watching you for many hours now. You've been here all alone for a long time. I don't think anyone is coming to save you any time soon"

"You're wrong! It's past my curfew. They'll be worried about me"

"Oh is that so?" Fenrir mocked sympathy, dropping Remus to the ground and watching with pleasure as he struggled to get back to his feet. "Well then, if they really are coming to find you then I may need to make this a lot quicker than I had planned"

Fenrir raised his large hand and swiped Remus on the face, he cried out in pain and fell to the floor again, his hand immediately flew to his face and he felt a pool of warmth beginning to form. He was bleeding. The thought of that made him squeamish but he needed to get out of here before any more damage could be done. With his hand still to his face Remus shakily tried to get to his feet, the blood was pounding in his head and the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he tried to claw his way to freedom.

Fenrir stood back and watched, watching as the blood pouring from his face was now laying a trail behind the boy. He licked his lips, he could almost taste the blood. He walked slowly behind him, allowing him to get to the edge of the forest, letting him taste that slight bit of hope before grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back against the tree. He had pulled him with such force that the small tree cracked slightly.

"You know, I was going to kill you. I thought that would be a good way to show everyone that Werewolves are not meant to be messed with. But I think I know a better way to prove that"

Fenrir smirked before ripping the neck of Remus' shirt wide open, his nose moved along his jaw as he found the sweet spot before ripping into it. He bit with so much force that Remus couldn't help but let out a blood curdling scream. Fenrir felt a gush of blood enter his mouth and when he was satisfied he pulled away from the young boy and let him crumple to the ground, watching as he writhed in pain.

"Tonight was the perfect choice to do this" Fenrir grinned, looking up into the sky just as the clouds began to move to reveal a full moon.

"You're first change. And when your parents find you, you'll be the shell of the boy you used to be"

Remus groaned in pain, he felt a fiery burning sensation coursing through his veins. He didn't know how exactly Fenrir had managed to turn him but the pain was excruciating. He saw the boots of his torturer walk over to a small walk and sit down, obviously to enjoy the show.

"You...Won't...Get...Away...With...This" Remus hissed through the pain, raising his head to stare glare at him. He yelled in pain as he felt his limbs grow, some were breaking and moulding into a new shape. Remus dug his hands into the ground, trying to think of anything to make him feel better. He wish this were a nightmare and that in a moment he would wake up and be back in bed. He would be free of this pain.

But no, he knew this wasn't a nightmare and he knew what was about to happen. And for the first time in his life, Remus knew the urge for revenge. Even through the pain he thought of all the countless ways he would get his back on Fenrir for turning him into such a beast. He would wait, he didn't care for how long. But Remus was going to make Fenrir pay for everything he has ever done, not only to him but to all of his other victims.

"Don't fight it" Fenrir hissed, "Allow yourself to feel the pain. Enjoy the sensation of turning for the first time. You'll never experience it again like your first time" He chuckled darkly, looking up the moon and holding his arms out just as the light him. Embracing his own transition.

After a moment or two Remus could now see that in place of Fenrir was a large, scruffy black werewolf glaring right at him. He swore he winked at him in mocking just before he ran out of the woods.

Remus was alone now. And in a considerable amount of pain. He wished he would have died. He wished Fenrir would have killed him. It would have been quicker than this. He cried out in pain again. He could hear the branches of the trees moving, and voices were beginning to float through the air. He could barely raise his head anymore to see the figures walking towards him. As the light from their wands began to fade away, he saw the worried faces of his parents

"Oh my boy!" His Mother cried, crouching down to wipe some of the blood from his face.

"Who did this to you?" His Father's eyes were wide with fear, he knew all too well who done this but hearing it would only confirm it.

Remus groaned, he didn't want to talk. "Fenrir" He cried, tears slowly beginning to fall down his face as he looked at the two people who he loved the most. "Get back from me. Please"

"We will do no such thing" His Mother tried to comfort him but Remus pushed her away

"You have too! He bit me Mother" Remus turned his head to the side to show the deep wound on his neck which was now surrounded with more blood.

His parents gasped as their eyes flickered down to the wound, their hearts breaking for their son who was writing on the ground in agony before them. They had read many stories of Fenrir hurting his victims in the Daily Prophet, but nothing like this. They were sure there were other cases out there but no one had wanted to step forward for they were feared of being shunned from the Wizarding community.

"You have to come back for me in the morning. I'm a danger to you all if you stay here" Remus reached out and grabbed his Mother's hand, giving it a loving squeeze. The other members of the search party murmured in agreement, now looking at his father on what to do

"Very well" He muttered. Getting his wand from his back pocket and along with the other Wizards and Witches they raised their wands towards Remus.

"Step back Mother" Remus ordered, with one last sad look at her son she backed off into the shadows.

And not a moment later Remus let out one last howl of pain, transforming into his new form. Unlike Fenrir's werewolf form, Remus was rather hairless, his skin quite pink under the light of the wands. Before he had a chance to react his werewolf self, various colours of lights were heading his way. His arms and legs were being chained together and he found himself bound to to the tree, wrapped in chains of silver. The enchantments on his skin burned his skin and he growled at all the people standing before them. Right now he was no longer the Remus Lupin everyone knew and loved.

Right now, he was a monster who would harm anyone who got in his way.

And deep down, even if he couldn't think like himself. Remus knew that his life was never going to be the same. He was never going to have an easy life now.

 


	19. I Say No - Ron and Hermione

**Authors Note - The song for this story is from Heather's the musical, I got seeing it on the West End and loved it! I thought this would be perfect for a Ron and Hermione story. Also warning, this is a Ron bashing story as I don't quite like the character.I have also changed a few words in the song to match in with the story. Enjoy!**

Draco smirked as he made his way into the Great Hall, today was going to be a great day and he could feel it. His revenge on the Gryffindor students was in place and his first target would be coming into the hall any minute now. As he took his seat with the best view he ignored the questioning looks that his friends were giving him.

"Uh Draco?" Pansy poked him in the arm

"Yes Pansy" Draco sighed, not quite in the mood for her antics

"What's gotten into you? You look like a cat whose just caught a canary?"

Draco frowned and looked at the girl, not quite sure what that saying meant but he just shook his head. "You'll see momentarily, and believe me. This prank will go down in Hogwarts history" He chuckled, a wicked glint in his eyes.

Slowly the Great Hall began to fill up and one by one more and more students were filling into the hall, everything was going according to plan. This had been his most intricate prank yet and he couldn't wait to see how it turned out. He had went into so much detail, even so much as to use some polyjuice potion and sneakily get the Gryffindor password of a much too trusting first year. He had sneaked into the common room and found the girls dorm, now he didn't go in obviously. He was a gentleman, not a creep. He opened the door just a creek and sent a silencing charm in the direction of Hermione's bed, it wasn't hard to find considering it was the only one with a copious amounts of books beside it, this ensured that she would be the last one into the Great Hall.

His eyes flickered towards the Gryffindor table to find that Potter and the Weasel were in their usual seats. Ron didn't look too concerned, not that he ever noticed anything out of the ordinary, even a goldfish was more observant. Potter on the other hand was looking around so much that Draco thought his neck was going to snap. Draco felt a presence beside him and glanced round to find Blaise smirking at him.

"You done it then?"

Draco scoffed but smirked at his closest friend, "I have. And we'll see the effects very soon. It's just time to wait"

The two friends began to dig into their breakfast, Draco's head occasionally glancing up at the entrance doors to see if the bushy haired girl had made her way into the Great Hall. It was about half way into breakfast when he finally noticed her, Draco nudged Blaise who followed his eyes and began chuckling, he had been the only person to be let in on Draco's plan, and that was mostly because he had to be look out for him, but he was also his closest friend.

The two Slytherins watched as Hermione ran down the hall to take her place beside Potter and Weasel, she looked quite dishevelled and panicked at the thought of being late. But that wasn't Draco's prank, it was much greater than that, now they just had to sit back and watch as the events unfolded.

\-----------

Hermione cursed herself as she got herself dressed, she didn't know how this could have been possible, usually she was the first one up and down at breakfast but somehow today she had managed to sleep in. After checking the time she realised she would still be in time for breakfast as long as she ran most of the way. So in the blink of an eye along with a few helpful spells she got herself dressed, got her books for the day and ran to the Great Hall. She only stopped in the doorway for a moment to catch her breath, she could feel eyes staring at her from across the hall but she didn't even want to look at them. She felt a warmness course through her body as she crossed the threshold into the hall before running to take her seat beside Harry.

"Mione? Where were you? We were worried sick"

Hermione glanced at Ron who didn't seem too concerned, his face was currently stuck in the plate of food on front of his face. She felt anger spread throughout her body but tried to shake it off as she smiled at Harry. "Thanks Harry, I just slept in that's all" She placed her bag down and began to gather some food onto her plate. By the time she had her food Ron still had not spoken to her and she felt that all too familiar anger coursing through her.

"Ronald" Hermione greeted coldly, as she watched her boyfriend suddenly drop his cutlery in surprise

"Mione? How long have you been here?" Ron gulped down the rest of his food and smiled at her

"I've been here 15 minutes actually but you were too engrossed in your food to care. Just like always" She muttered

Ron frowned, "What's gotten into you?"

Harry winced as he saw Hermione stiffen, "Definitely not the right thing to say mate"

"What's gotten into me? No, what's gotten into you Ronald?"

Ron gulped, the tone in Hermione's voice did not sound too pleasant and from the look in her eyes she was getting angrier by the second.

"You don't even notice me. You didn't even notice that I wasn't here when you first got down, and then you didn't even notice when I arrived and started talking to Harry. All because you were too busy stuffing food into your face. How do you think that makes me feel?" Hermione growled, the Hall had grown quieter as her volume and temper rose. She could hear quiet chuckles coming from behind her but she ignored them. Feeling the fire grow in her as she finally took a stand.

"Just calm down, geez. It's like you're on you period or something" Ron sighed

The surrounding Gryffindor students, along with Harry, groaned and shook their heads at his response. Ron really had no clue how to handle girls, especially Hermione who was fiercely independent.

"No! I will not calm down!" Hermione had enough, she pushed away from the table and stood up, taking everyone, even herself, by surprise. As she took a moment to take a breath the slow rise of music began to fill the hall, she frowned and looked around to find where it was coming from but couldn't find the source. As the music continued to grow she felt the overwhelming urge to sing and as much as she was fighting it, she couldn't help it as the song began.

" _Oh, Luna was right about you_ " Hermione spoke at first, her eyes widening in fear as she looked at Harry for help.

"What? No, let's just have a real conversation Hermione. Just sit back down" Ron frowned, glancing at Luna at the other table

" _Luna was right and I just ignored her_!"

"Let's talk about something else" Ron urged, his face flushing red as all of the Great Hall were now looking in their direction. "Let's talk about class"

" _No_!" Hermione yelled, her eyes firmly on Ron. " _Let's talk about you_ "

Ron gulped as the music kicked in, his eyes scanning the hall trying to find the music himself so he could put an end to this embarrassment.

 _"You are a drug_  
_You are a poison pill_  
_I've got to kick this habit now_  
_Or else I never will_  
_I loved the rush_  
_When you would hold me close_  
_But you will not be satisfied_  
_Until I overdose"_

To say the students of Hogwarts were in shock would be an understatement, most of them sat with their mouths agape at what they were witnessing. Meanwhile Draco and Blaise were hunched over the tables in laughter as the extent of Draco's plan came into effect. "Hopefully she doesn't kill you for this" Blaise laughed

"Me? It'll be both of us if she does. Remember you helped"

Blaise froze with a look of fear on his face as Draco roared with laughter again.

 _"This is it_  
_Hit the brake_  
_I am finally awake_  
_Let me be_  
_Let me go_  
_You need help_  
_I can't provide_  
_I am not qualified_  
_This troubled teen is getting clean_  
_I say no"_

Hermione stood on the table as the breakfast dishes began to clear themselves, she glared at Ron as she continued to sing. Whatever was happening to her had elevated her hidden feelings and made them public. There was no going back after this. And secretly, Hermione was glad. She had been frustrated with Ron for so long but she had been so afraid to voice it. Now, this would free her.

" _Hermione, who else is gonna_..." Ron was getting nasty now, his own anger beginning to get the better of him. He shouldn't have to sit here and take this. He rose from his seat, meeting Hermione's eyes.

" _No, no, no, no, no!_ " Hermione shook her head and jumped off the table

 _"Don't say a word_  
_You speak and I cave in_  
_You'll twist the truth again_  
_And drill deep down beneath my skin_  
_You said you'd change_  
_And I believed in you_  
_But you're still using me to justify the harm you do"_

There had been many times in their relationship when they had come close to breaking up, but then Ron would make an emotional speech and change her mind. But no more, she was over him and over his childish behaviour. She deserved better than him. And he needed to know what he's lost.

"Come on" Ron rolled his eyes, his hand inching towards his wand

 _"This is it_  
_Hit the brake_  
_Call it all my mistake_  
_Long as you let me go_  
_You need help_  
_I can't provide_  
_I'm not Bonnie_  
_You're not Clyde_

 _It's not too late_  
_I'm getting straight_  
_I say no"_

Hermione shook her head, glaring at the red headed boy on front of her as she continued to sing. All the hurt and anger she had felt during their relationship was now coming to the surface; all the tears she had cried over him after she found out he had cheated on her with some Hufflepuff student. All of her stupidity at believing him when he said he wouldn't do it again but knowing deep down that he was still going behind her back. All of the unnecessary pain she had to go through to realise she was better off without him. But now she had learned her lesson, and she had an inkling of who it was that had 'pranked' her.

Hermione stood back up on the table again before stepping down to stand before Ron, who now seemed to be quivering at the sudden closeness of an angry female.

 _"Blame your childhood_  
_Blame your Dad_  
_Blame the life you never had_  
_But hurting people? That's your choice my friend_  
_And hate will earn you nothing in the end_  
_This is the end"_

Ron had enough, without thinking he pulled his wand out and aimed it directly at Hermione, "But I love you!" He roared, his face now flushed with anger. How dare she embarrass him like this? After everything he had done for her, now she was singing at him and airing their private history out for the whole school to hear. He glanced at Harry was staring at Hermione in surprise and awe. Even his own best friend had betrayed him.

"Dude" Hermione backed away from his wand, but didn't take her eyes off him. She pushed his wand down again and shook her head.

 _"This is it_  
_I won't cry_  
_Starting now, I will try_  
_To pay back_  
_All the karma I owe_  
_Start again_  
_Somewhere new_  
_Far from the cool guys like you_  
_So goodbye_  
_'Cause now I'm_  
_Saying no_  
_I say no!_

_No!"_

The Hall fell silent as the music came to an end, no one knowing how to react after the outburst of Hermione Granger. Hermione was breathing heavily as she stared at Ron, her eyes wide as she couldn't believe what she had just done. But she doesn't regret it, not one bit. Ron, on the other hand, glared at her with all of the hate he could muster. He took a step closer to her, not quite sure as to why or sure of what he would do but as soon as he took a step, the rest of the Gryffindor table stood up, ready to intervene if needs be. Without another word or look in anyone's direction Ron stormed out of the Great Hall

On the other side of the hall both Draco and Blaise had stopped laughing, instead they were staring at Hermione, eyes wide open at what had just happened. "Uh, Draco?"

Draco didn't answer, instead his eyes were still trained on the brunette girl who had not moved a muscle after the Weasel's exit.

"Malfoy!" Blaise nudged him, breaking him out of his trance. "Did you do that?"

"Do what?"

Blaise rolled his eyes, "That song. Did you choose the song or just put the enchantment on?"

"Just the enchanment" Draco shrugged, "All I read in the jinx book is that when the jinx is cast it heightens whatever the person is feeling. So the emotions they feel will determine the song"

"So...That means" Blaise glanced at Hermione again then back at Draco, a smirk forming on his face. "That the Weasel and Bookworm have finally broken up?"

Draco shrugged and nodded, his eyes back on Hermione with his heart thudding in his chest.

"Which means that you now have a shot my friend" Blaise clapped him on the back as the Great Hall erupted into a chorus of applause and Hermione was enveloped in a sea of hugs. But even through the sea of people Hermione managed to find the grey eyes she had been searching for. She smiled warmly at him, making a silent note to thank him later. Even if he had meant to prank her and embarrass her, he had managed to help her instead.

Draco flushed, smiled back at her and then ducked his head quickly, making the excuse of needing to grab his bag from under the table. As the boys rose from the table and made their way from the Hall, Draco grinned.

"Maybe it does Blaise, maybe it does"

 


	20. A Family Reunited - Harry Potter and Sirius Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A re-imagining of the scene in Prisoner of Azkaban. Instead of Peter Pettigrew escaping, they manage to trap him and clear Sirius's name

Between them both Sirius and Harry took one of Ron's arms and put it across their shoulders, helping him stand and then leading him out of the Shrieking Shack and down into the secret passageway. Harry's heart was the happiest it had been in a long while, even after everything that had happened tonight. He had a Godfather, and he certainly hoped that would mean he would no longer have to live with the Dursley's. He could finally say goodbye to the place and to the people who had caused him so much pain and suffering over the years.

Ron winced as they crammed together in the tight passageway, the muffled voices of Hermione and Lupin drifting along behind them, as well as the occasional muffled cry from Peter Pettigrew.

"Sorry about that" Sirius apologised as he looked down on the bloody and injured leg of Ron, "I reckon that twinges a bit"

"A bit" Ron glared at him, "You could have torn my bloody leg off!" He cried in fury

"I was going for the rat" Sirius admitted, rather sheepishly, his aim had been off quite a bit as he dove for the former rat known as Scabbers. When he had finally laid eyes upon the rat in Ron's arms he had felt an overwhelming sense of anger as he finally confronted the person he used to call his friend, the person who had betrayed Lily and James, leading them to their deaths.

"I usually have a sweet disposition as a dog" Sirius grinned, glancing to the side to Harry hanging onto his every word. "In fact, on more than one occasion James suggested that I made the change permanent. Now, the tail I could live with. But the fleas? They're murder" Sirius shuddered, only taking note of the bright grin that shone on Harry's face but ignoring the look of disgust on Ron's.

After what felt like an eternity the three made their way out of the secret passageway and found themselves on front of the Whomping Willow, they gently placed Ron on a blunt set of rocks and Sirius stepped forward, in awe of the sight of the Hogwarts castle that he was finally laying eyes on again. Hermione, Lupin and Peter Pettigrew emerged not moments later. Lupin had Pettigrew back the scruff of his tattered collar and his wand pointed directly at the base of his throat. Hermione immediately went to Ron's side, taking a sharp breath as she saw the extent of his wounds.

"That looks like it hurts" She frowned

Ron nodded, pulling the hem of his trouser up slightly so she could see it more. "It does, I reckon they'll have to, you know, chop it"

Harry glanced towards his godfather, drowning the words of Ron out as he longed to go and comfort the man who had been so cruelly locked up for a crime he did not commit. As he glanced back he found Hermione staring at him, "Go" She whispered, indicating that she would stay with Ron. He nodded, rose to his feet and joined Sirius on front of the castle.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Sirius sighed as he started the castle, bright lights coming from the tower windows and he envied the people who were inside, carrying on with their lives and not having a care in the world. How he longed to have those days back. But here they were.

"I don't know if anyone has told you this Harry, but when you were born" Sirius began, not quite sure what to say and ready for the rejection that he had faced all of his life. "Your Mother and Father, they made me..."

"My Godfather" Harry finished, a grin on his face as Sirius looked at him in amusement

Sirius nodded, his lips twitching at the corners as he fought the urge to smile. "I understand if you quite like living with your Aunt and Uncle. But I just thought, once I'm free. I was wondering if you would like to come live with me?"

"With you?" Harry's heart leapt with joy, this had been the best news he had received all night, and he was more than willing to jump right at the chance to leave Private Drive.

"I understand, if you don't want to..."

"Don't want to? Of course I want too! You don't know what I've had to put up with back at that house. Any chance to leave the Dursley's and never see them again, I'm taking"

Sirius chuckled and grinned at his godson, happiness soaring through his body as he now had a true family. Even if it just remained him and Harry, that would be enough to complete him. Even though he couldn't make up those 12 years he was away, he was going to try. He was going to show Harry everything he had missed and tell him all the stories of his time at Hogwarts.

"Harry!"

Harry turned at the sound of Hermione's voice, just in time to see Lupin and Pettigrew emerging from the tunnel behind him. HE felt his anger surge through his body as he stormed up to them, just as Pettigrew was attempting to speak to Hermione and Ron.

"I was your Rat" Pettigrew wined, doing everything he could to survive and not to be murdered by his old friends.

Harry pointed his wand straight at Pettigrew, who cowered away in fear. "Don't you dare speak to my friends. You're nothing but a coward. A fraud! You got my parents killed"

Pettigrew gulped, shrinking as far back into the tree as he could. "I didn't mean too!" He cried

"Of course you meant to" Sirius roared. "When you found out about Voldemort, and that he had James and Lily marked for death you ran! You ran to the side that had power, that had the numbers and to someone who you thought could protect you. You spilled all of the order's secrets to them and got our friends killed. You betrayed them"

Pettigrew sniffled as he shivered in the cold night air, he couldn't speak. The fear was washing over him in waves and without another word he attempted to grab Harry's wand from his hands, but Harry was too quick for him, he knew Peter was going to try something of the sorts to escape, and so taking a leaf from Hermione's book, he shouted a useful spell.

"Petrificus Totalas!"

Without another word or sniffle, Pettigrew grew rigid and fell to the ground with an almighty thud. "Nice going Harry" Hermione beamed, proud that he was finally taking her advice of studying.

But Harry shrugged, "I had to do something to stop him from getting away. Sirius deserves his name to be cleared and what better way then bringing back the frozen rat who betrayed so many people"

Sirius clapped Harry on the back, "Great thinking. Now let's get this lump of a man back to Hogwarts"

Without warning a bright light began shining down onto the group gathered by the Whomping Willow. Hermione glanced up and found a full moon beginning to emerge from behind the clouds. "Professor Lupin" She whispered, "Harry! Look!"

Harry and Sirius turned to find Lupin now standing, frozen like a statue as he stared up at the moon. Sirius ran up towards Lupin, pressing his hands against his chest as he began to fall forward. "Remus, my old friend. Have you taken your potion tonight" He slapped his cheek but got no answer in his return, just a strangled groan from Lupin as he struggled to break free. You belong here! In this heart!"

The transformation began and Sirius began to struggle at the dead weight of Lupin as he turned; he glanced towards the young teenagers. "Go! Go! I'll take care of him. You need to get Pettigrew back to the castle and tell Dumbledore everything. I'll join you when I can"

Harry didn't want to go, but by the look on his godfather's face he knew not to argue. That and the thought of finally having a loving and caring home with someone who would appreciate his company kept him from messing up. After a few minutes of debating on how to get Pettigrew back to the castle, Hermione with her endless knowledge of magic remembered a spell she had been reading about which would help them to carry Pettigrew on an invisible gurney of sorts. In what seemed like no time at all they had him floating in midair just as Snape finally emerged from the hole in tree.

"Potter there you are" He growled, his black eyes glancing towards the un-moving body of Pettigrew, he glowered towards Harry for a moment before a loud growl broke the silence. He turned and in reflex, threw his arms around the three teenagers to protect them. Lupin had finally transformed into his werewolf form and had shoved Sirius away as he howled into the night air. The werewolf glanced towards them and began to growl as he stalked towards them.

Out of nowhere a black mass jumped on front of them and shoved the werewolf away. Harry realised in an instant that it was Sirius. "No!" He tried to surge forward but the hold Snape had on them just grew stronger.

"Don't go anywhere Potter. I need to get you three and this imbecile back to the castle" Snape glowered at him. "I'm sure your godfather will be fine on his own" He flicked his wand and shoved the three of them forward, as they began to walk the invisible gurney that held Pettigrew followed slowly behind them.

After what seemed like an eternity they had finally reached the castle grounds, and Harry wasn't surprised at the form of his Headmaster standing there wanting to greet them. But what did surprise him was that the Minister of Magic was also there, waiting in anticipation.

"Ah" Dumbledore smiled, even in the dark night his eyes twinkled. "Here they come Minister, and I'm happy to say that they have someone with them who you would be very anxious to meet"

"Is it Black? Have they actually managed to capture him?" Cornelius asked, a hint of excitement and glee in his voice

"Why now Minister, I highly doubt that three young teenagers would manage to capture him. Might I say, that this person is someone who everyone thought to be dead? After all, the only thing to be found of him was a finger"

The Minister's eyes widened in shock, and for a moment he spluttered and coughed as he tried to speak. "Surely not Dumbledore? Pettigrew is dead! Sirius Black destroyed him, on front of 13 eye witnesses!"

"Not to be rude Minister" Harry spoke, "But you're wrong. And we can prove it" He smirked as the gurney that had been following behind him emerged. The gasp and the look on the Minister's face was enough to satisfy Harry.

Cornelius Fudge walked slowly over to the floating body, examining it as if it weren't real. "It...It can't be. He was meant to be dead!"

Dumbledore followed suit and stood behind the Minister, the smile not leaving his face as he spoke. "I think you'll find Minister that this is in fact, Peter Pettigrew, missing finger and all. What may explain this whole fiasco is that Peter is in fact an illegal animagus. And when confronted in that alley way with Sirius Black, who was entirely right to be angry at the news he had just found out about his friends, his only thought was to cut off a finger and transform into his animagus to escape. His form of course being a rat. Which I find to be entirely suitable giving the circumstances"

The Minister stood dumbfounded, he didn't know what to do or say, but all he knew was that when this news broke there would be many of questions, all most likely questioning his position and if he would be fit to be Minister considering that a full investigation had never be conducted in the aftermath of the so called 'gas explosion'.

"How on earth did you manage to find him?"

"Well" Ron began, "It wouldn't have taken so long if we had realised sooner but he was actually my rat"

"Your rat?" The Minister blinked in confusion, this whole scenario was draining years of his life, he suddenly felt as if he had been told that Lord Voldemort had returned.

"Yeah well, after that explosion he transformed into a rat and he never changed back until it was safe. I never really thought about it but one day a rat appeared in our garden and my Mum found it, thinking it would make a good pet for Percy for starting Hogwarts" Ron admitted, blushing slightly but thankful that the darkness was hiding it for him. "Then when I eventually started Hogwarts he was given to me. I never really thought about why he was missing a toe or why he had lived for so long"

"So...What you're saying...No, it can't be" Cornelius refused to believe it

"I'm afraid Minister that it is. Sirius Black is as innocent as I am. Peter framed Sirius for killing him so he could attempt to return to his master, Voldemort" Dumbledore ignored the gasp from the Minister and continued on. "I politely ask that you call the Dementors off the search for Sirius Black and instead put them on Peter Pettigrew. I also ask that the charm that, I'm assuming that was performed by Miss Granger?"

Harry nodded, glancing behind him to see Hermione smiling slightly.

Dumbledore's eyes sparkled in the moonlight as his smile increased, "I ask that the charm is not removed as once it is, Pettigrew would try to turn into his animagus form, and since it is a rat he could probably escape from most places"

The Minister rubbed his temples as he tried to take this all in, just knowing what would happen tomorrow morning when the new edition of the Daily Prophet hit the news stands. He could see the title now 'Minister Magic Unfit to be Minister' or 'How Three Hogwarts Students solved a 13 year old mystery'. "Very well, very well" Fudge sighed, pulling his wand from his robes and sending an invisible spell through the dark forest, he tucked his wand back into his robes and saw the curious look on Hermione's face.

"It's a double spell, it firstly tracts the dementors you see, they're quite hard keep track of sometimes and then the second is a message for them to call of the search, works almost like a Patronus does" Fudge puffed his chest out, feeling the slightest bit important considering he had created the spell. Suddenly the air grew cold and Harry felt that same chill he always did when one of the dementors were around.

Two Dementors appeared from just behind the trees at the forest, making their way to the Minister who then ordered them to escort Pettigrew up to the Hospital wing where he would be watched over while the decision on if he would receive the Dementors kiss would be given. Fudge turned back to the trio and Dumbledore, who were all looking relatively calmer now that the dementors had gone, the silence was broken by a loud howl into the night

"Sirius! We have to go get him" Harry yelled, his wand already in hand but a calming and reassuring hand on his shoulder that belonged to Dumbledore held him in place instead.

"It's okay Harry, I've sent the Auror's who arrived with the Minister down to retrieve both Sirius and Remus, they should be with us shortly" Dumbledore smiled. "Now, how about we all go back inside for some tea?"

\-----------------

After what felt like an eternity and a copious amounts of tea, the door to Dumbledore's office finally opened and in walked both Remus and Sirius. Harry wasted in no time and flung himself to his Godfather, hugging him tightly for the first time before doing the same for Professor Lupin.

"What happened?"

Sirius glanced at Remus, smirking at him as he spoke. "Oh nothing, just a friendly dog fight between two friends"

**Author's Note - Part 2 anyone?**

 


	21. Under The Mistletoe - Blaise and Ginny

Draco rolled his eyes as he watched his friend of many years pacing up and down the Slytherin common room, he had been doing this often lately whenever he came across a certain Witch and was attempting to fight his feelings, but was losing very badly. It was only a matter of time before one of them caved and told the other of their feelings. He had a bet on with his girlfriend on just how long that would last exactly

"I've had enough" Blaise announced, suddenly stopping his pacing and turning to face Draco.

And looks like Draco was just about to win that bet.

"Whatever do you mean?" Draco sighed, trying to be the supportive best friend but it was hard when Blaise had been doing this for months on end. Draco was almost ready to fling Blaise and the Weaslette into a cupboard and lock the door and don't let them out until they were ready to admit the truth to themselves.

"Of hiding my feelings" Blaise admitted, ignoring the eye roll of his friend. "I know I've went on for months, changing my mind about whether I should or not. But I need to tell her. It's driving me crazy"

"And it's driving me crazy too" Draco muttered before getting up from his spot on the sofa. "If you need any help Blaise, I can always help"

Blaise eyed him curiously, "Draco Malfoy? Offering to help? Has the world gone mad?"

Draco rolled his eyes again, "Shove off Zabini. I'm trying to be nice. Are you going to take the offer or not?"

Blaise smirked, "Granger's been rubbing off on you it seems" He sniggered, dodging a kick to the shin by jumping out of the way. "But yes, I would like your help"

Draco nodded and between the two they began to brain storm ideas on how exactly Blaise was going to tell the Weasley girl how head over heels he was for her. It took them almost all night to think of something good but in the end they were using the fact that it was almost Christmas to their advantage. Taking a leaf out of the twin Weasley's book they enchanted a strand of mistletoe, the charm they had used on it would render both parties unable to move from their spot until they kissed.

Early the next morning Blaise and Draco went to the Great Hall just before breakfast started to put the mistletoe up just above the entrance. They had agreed that Draco would go and get Hermione under the pretence of that he wanted to see her before they had breakfast, and he would conveniently invite Ginny along too.

"Step one complete" Blaise grinned, looking up at their handy work, he didn't mind if other students got stuck under it either, it would be entertaining to see which pairings happened, just as long as he and Ginny got stuck there together.

"I'll go get the girls" Draco nodded towards his friend before taking off to the Gryffindor tower. It wasn't too long of a walk and as he arrived all the students were coming out of the tower. He spied the brown, bushy haired girl that he loved so much being accompanied by the Weaslette. He smirked and waited until they had passed the corner where he was standing before sneaking up behind Hermione and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Hello there" He growled lowly by her ear, causing her to jump.

"Draco Malfoy! Don't you dare scare me like that" Hermione swatted his arm playfully and Draco could see by the smile on her face that she wasn't mad at all. "What are you doing here?"

"Am I not allowed to come and invite my beautiful girlfriend down to breakfast with me?"

Ginny gagged behind the two, secretly jealous of the love they had. The love she hadn't shared with Harry which ultimately drove them apart. It had been amicable, but after all those years of her pining after him like a love struck teenager, it still hurt.

"Of course you are. I would much rather you not scare me though when you do it" Hermione stated

"I promise I'll do better next time" Draco grinned, nibbling slightly on the earlobe of his girlfriend and smirked when she uttered a low moan at the contact

"If you two are done practically shagging in the hallway can we go to breakfast please? I'm starving" Ginny whined.

Hermione jumped at the sudden voice of her friend, a furious blush lit up her face as she grabbed Draco's hand and began walking down the hall, ignoring the snort of laughter coming from her boyfriend.

"You know Weaslette, when you moan for food you really do act like a Weasley"

"Shut it Malfoy" Ginny hissed, "Or else I can see a bat bogey hex coming your way in the not so distant future"

Draco knew then it was time for him to shut up, as they rounded the corner he spotted the familiar face of Blaise who was lingering just on front of the Great Hall doors, but as soon he saw spotted Ginny he darted back inside, taking his place at the Slytherin table.

Hermione and Draco walked through the Great Hall doors first, Draco's eyes drifted up to where he found the mistletoe shooting towards them, to ensure it was Ginny who got stuck underneath it, Draco grabbed Hermione's elbow and pulled her into his chest which then caused him to stumble 'accidentally' backwards which then in turn made Ginny stop in her tracks.

"Watch where you're going Malfoy" Ginny groaned, "I know you want to snog your girlfriend and all but myself, and all of the other students who want to eat their breakfast would rather not watch that thank you very much" Ginny smirked at him before trying to make her way to the Gryffindor table, only to find that she couldn't. She frowned for a moment and tried to take a step again but it was as if there was an invisible wall surrounding her now.

"What were you saying Weaslette?" Draco smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at her

"What have you done ferret?" Ginny hissed

"Me? I haven't done anything" He feigned innocent, ignoring the disapproving look that Hermione was giving him.

Blaise, who saw the commotion and saw that Ginny was now in the perfect position, came running up. A fake look of concern on his face. "What's going on guys?"

"The ferret here has enchanted the mistletoe and now I can't get out. Too bad I don't have my wand otherwise I would try and hex you"

Draco gulped and glanced at Blaise, he knew when you got two warnings from Ginny that was her being nice, but if she had to say it a third time than that's when you had to run.

"So ferret" Ginny sighed, "Can you let me out of here?"

"I can't"

Ginny's eyes widened, before narrowing again in anger. "And why's that?"

"Because the mistletoe is enchanted. The charm on it means that whoever is stuck under the mistletoe can't move until the person that they fancy comes and kisses them" Draco smirked as he saw the cheeks of Ginny flush pink.

"Draco" Hermione sighed but unable to hide her smile as she realised what was going on.

"So Ginny" Blaise interjected, glad that no one had managed to see his blush, "Who is it you fancy?"

Ginny didn't met his eyes and stayed silent, torn between whether or not if she should tell them.

"It's not Potter is it? I thought you two were over months ago?" Draco queried, wincing as Hermione elbowed him in the stomach, that must have still been a touchy subject for Ginny.

"Well" Blaise began, "If you don't want to tell us then maybe I could try? If it doesn't work then we'll get the person that you fancy to come to your rescue"

Ginny raised her eyebrows at the taller boy, both shocked and excited at the thought of Blaise meeting her under the mistletoe. "Y-You don't have to do that Blaise, I'll stay here all night if I have to" She rolled her eyes, feigning the tough girl act.

"Oh please you wouldn't last all night standing her by yourself. Plus if I don't come in and try rescue you, there will be many of other guys who will. And not just the handsome ones like myself, the ones that look like they've been hit by the Hogwarts Express"

Hermione gasped, "Blaise! That's so mean"

Blaise just rolled his eyes and tried to fight the grin off his face when he saw the internal battle that Ginny was having with herself right now, she knew that he made a good point and Blaise was hoping that she took the bait. Finally after what felt like a number of hours, Ginny finally looked at Blaise again, suddenly growing nervous at the prospect that she would have to kiss her crush.

"Fine, you win. Get in here" Ginny whispered, stretching out her hand to grasp at Blaise's robes and dragged him under the mistletoe.

Blaise stumbled slightly into the circle, feeling himself bump against Ginny slightly his arms automatically wound around her waist to balance her. He saw the blush on her face and winked, putting on his trademark smirk as he did so. "It's okay love, I make all the girls fall for me"

Ginny rolled her eyes but she still blushed, "Just shut up and come here"

Once again Ginny grabbed a fistful of his robes in her hand and pulled him to her, stretching up to close the little bit of distance so their lips met. For a moment they were both frozen on the spot, neither one wanting to move until they sensed the other's reaction. It was Blaise who broke it first by gripping his hands on Ginny's waist just a little bit tighter, holding her so close as if she was going to disappear any second. Ginny eventually unwound her hands from his robes and instead moved them to around his neck, almost like she couldn't get enough of them.

Draco and Hermione watched on the sidelines as their best friends finally got what they deserved. Each other. Slowly but surely the Great Hall began to fill up with more and more students who were stopping by occasionally to watch the spectacle that was at the doors. Suddenly Ron and Harry appeared at the doors, both stopping as they saw Ginny and Blaise locked in an embrace. Draco smirked as he watched Ron's red going from a ghastly pale to a horrible shade of red that almost watched his hair, although he was no friendly with the two boys, it didn't mean that he was going to stop causing them some havoc occasionally.

"Ginny!" Ron spluttered, his eyes wide and hands clenched into fists as his baby sister pulled away from the Slytherin menace

"Oh, hello Ron. Harry" Ginny smiled politely, taking notice that the mistletoe had indeed disappeared. "How can I help you?"

Ron blinked and stared at her like she had grown two heads, "How can you help? Well how about not bloody kissing some Slytherin in the middle of the Great Hall! That would help" He hissed

Ginny rolled her eyes while Blaise just smirked, "Shove off Ron, you're just jealous because Lavender hasn't forgiven you yet for forgetting her birthday. Now, if you'll excuse my boyfriend and I are going for breakfast"

With that Ginny tugged Blaise from his spot, who smirked at Ron before willingly being lead away by Ginny who guided them to the Gryffindor table. Once they were sitting Blaise looked willing at Ginny, waiting for some kind of reaction of the stunt he had pulled. But instead she just smiled at him, still holding his hand on top of the table as she stared back at him

"So, you called me your boyfriend?" Blaise wiggled his eyebrows

Ginny laughed, "I did. I just thought that after that kiss it was about time I admitted how I felt about you"

"I'm glad" Blaise smiled, "I've been dancing around my feelings for a long time too. That's why I planned the mistletoe idea, because then I knew it would result in either something really great or you slapping me on the back of the head for causing such a scene"

"I'm not Hermione, I would never slap you" Ginny laughed, imaging what her friend's reaction would have been if she had been in her predicament with Draco. "So are we? Boyfriend and girlfriend?"

Blaise rolled his eyes and placed a quick but passionate kiss on her lips, pulling back ever so slightly to smile. "Does that answer your question?"

"It certainly does" Ginny grinned, pressing her lips to his again while ignoring the protest that came from the other end of the table, clearly from her ignorant brother who was quite clearly shouting 'Not again' for everyone to hear. But she didn't care, all she cared about was that she finally had what she had wanted for a long time, and there was no way in hell she was going to let go of it.


	22. An Awkward Proposal - Hermione, Ron and Fred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron decides to awkwardly propose to Hermione during a family dinner.

Hermione stood in shock at the scene that stood before her; she was in the middle of the kitchen at the Burrow, pleasantly enjoying her dinner when Ron made the announcement that he had something to ask her, something in which he needed her to stand for. Now that should have given her the first warning, but oblivious to what was about to happen Hermione agreed. The second warning immediately caused the desired effect of shock as Ron got down onto one knee on front of his entire family. _Why Me? Why is this happening?_

"Hermione Jean Granger, I know we're not together and that we've been broken up for some time now but I still love you. I'm still in love with you. You called me selfish and self-centred. That was true because I never took into consideration your feelings or how I was treating you. I was a jerk. But now I want to make it up to you"

The room was silent, Hermione raised her head to glance at the others who were just as stunned as she was. Mr Weasley was frowning at his youngest son on the ground, Ginny was smirking at Hermione knowing clearly what this was going to cause as a result, Harry was shaking his head and covering his eyes, being unable to watch the disaster that was about happen. George who was in the middle of eating, now held his fork meters away from his mouth as he stared at the scene in absolute shock. Bill and Charlie were smirking, both also knowing where this was heading. Mrs Weasley was staring open eyed and looking back and forth between Hermione and Ron. Finally, that left Fred.

If looks could kill then Ron would certainly be 6 foot under the ground by now, Fred's eyes were narrow slits as he glared at his younger brother, he was holding onto the table in a death grip and was trying to remain calm.

Hermione slowly looked back over at Ron who was still on one knee; he slowly opened a red velvet box that held a small but pretty ring that held a single diamond in the middle of it. "You're my world Hermione, and I never want to lose you again. So would you do me the honour of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?"

Silence again enveloped the kitchen as everyone tried to take the news in, what in earth had possessed Ron to propose to Hermione? Someone he wasn't even dating considering they had been broke up for more than a year and a half. A small groan was heard from the table and Hermione saw from her peripheral vision that Harry had laid his head down on the table, too uncomfortable to watch what was about to happen.

As Hermione glanced back at Ron and to the surprise of everyone in the room, she began to laugh. And not just a sarcastic laugh that you would use at a prank that didn't have the desired effect, but a full on belly laugh that only Fred or George could evoke with one of their pranks. The entire Weasley family watched as the young girl broke down into hysterics, she was now doubled over and clutching her stomach, finally seeing the humour in the situation considering that Ron had not been able to work out what had been transpiring over the year.

Ron watched with wide eyes as Hermione begun to laugh, something he wasn't able to do during their entire relationship together, he watched as she wiped the tears from her eyes and then erupted into even more giggles. He didn't know what was so funny about the situation considering he was putting his heart on the line to the only girl he has truly loved. He stood back up, closed the box and glared at Hermione

"You could have just said no, you know. Instead of laughing in my face" He muttered

Once Hermione was able to regain control, she took a deep breath before looking at Ron again. "I'm sorry Ron but my answer was always going to be no. Firstly, we're not even together anymore and we haven't been for a year and a half now, so it wouldn't make any sense for me to say yes to you"

Ron winced at the brutal honesty she was giving to him.

"And secondly, how have you not noticed what's been going on for the past year?

"What do you mean?" Ron frowned, confused at what she was trying to insinuate. "What's been going on?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Seriously? You haven't noticed anything?"

"Not a thing"

Hermione shook her head but turned round to Fred, "Do you want to tell him or shall I?"

At the sound of Hermione's voice Fred broke his intense glare at Ron, instead choosing to meet her brown eyes and replacing the frown on his face with a smile. He immediately stood up and walked by her side, no longer worried at what his younger brother was going to think of their revelation.

"What's this got to do with Fred?"

Fred just shook as his head as his brother chose to remain completely oblivious, instead of using words to clue Ron in he decided that his actions would be better than words and instead chose to wrap his arm around Hermione's waist and press a sweet but gentle kiss to her head. Ron watched between the two, the way that when their eyes met it was like they were having a silent conversation. Fred was being so gentle with her, not because he thought she was delicate but because he cared for her. And the way Hermione leaned into his embrace, clearly enjoying the warmth that was radiating from his gentle hold; it was a reaction that definitely should that they were definitely more than friends.

"Wait, hold on. You two?" Ron asked indecorously, not willing to believe what he was seeing

"Yes Ron, us" Hermione smiled, her head resting on Fred's chest

"You mean to tell me, you're with my _brother_?" Ron was angry now, the tips of his ears were red and he now had a steely glare fixed on Fred.

"I am and we love each other Ron. I'm sorry but I can't marry you. You'll find someone soon though, someone who is more suited to you than I ever was" Hermione smiled sadly at him

"How could you do this to me Mione? How could you do this to us?" Ron bellowed, which had been a mistake considering the look of death that Hermione was now giving him

"To us? Ron there hasn't been an us since you broke up with me a year and a half ago! You destroyed us and I'm pretty certain that you can remember the reason why" She hissed. "We're not compatible Ron and you even agreed with me. We're too different"

"Different? Do you not think you and Fred are different? You're a bossy, know it all bookworm and he's a silly, jolly prankster. How are you two any different than you and I?"

Everyone who had been sitting at the table during the confrontation groaned at Ron's response, he had never been the most tactful person when coming back with responses, and usually he ended up insulting the person. Hermione just shook her head, "Fred's different. He treats me better; he treats me like an actual person and cares for my feelings. He asks my opinions on things, even if I'm not the most knowledgeable about them. He loves me" She smiled, glancing up at her boyfriend who was grinning down at her, grateful for her public display of affection for him

Ron pretended to gag, "But I love you too! You're mine. He knows that and you know that. You should be with me"

"Wrong thing to say little brother" Fred growled, much to the surprise of everyone apart from George who was now smirking. "Hermione is not an object or a prize to be won or owned. She is a human being who deserves to be treated like one. She has feelings and just because you're an imbecile ass who can't see that doesn't mean someone else can't!" He growled

Ron gulped, he could clearly see the anger in Fred's eyes as he spoke, his protectiveness of Hermione coming out clear and strong, so strong in fact that Ron stumbled back a step or two, hoping that his older brother wasn't about to use his wand on him. He didn't know when or how it had happened but he could the love clearly in both Fred and Hermione's eyes, they were each other's everything. Suddenly Ron felt the fight leaving his body as he deflated with defeat; he stuffed the ring back in his pocket and nodded. "Fine. Whatever. I need some air" He huffed before stalking about the back door and into the night.

Hermione sighed with relief once the back door closed; she turned to Fred and shook her head. "I honestly can't believe he done that"

"Neither can I" Fred sighed, hugging her tightly to his body and kissing the top of her head again. "But at least he knows now"

Hermione nodded, enjoying the warmth from Fred's body when someone from the table coughed lightly, they glanced over and saw George smirking. "If you two lovebirds are finally finished with our soap opera tonight we would kindly like to continue with dinner, would you like to join us?"

They both rolled their eyes but took their seats again at the table as the family finally fell back into normal conversation, Hermione was too caught up in her conversation with Ginny that she didn't notice Fred and George having one of their own.

"He nearly upstaged you" George remarked

Fred chuckled, "I know, he's such a git. Trying to woo my girl. I think a little prank for revenge is in the works, what do you think George?"

"Why, oh twin of my, I wholeheartedly agree" George grinned, clinking his glass of butterbeer against Fred's. "Oh one more thing"

"What's that?" Fred asked

"You're so whipped"


	23. Nifflers On The Loose - Sirius Black

"Hey Padfoot!"

Sirius turned to find James running up behind him as he made his war towards the Gryffindor common room, he was eager to finally put his prank on the Slytherin's into action and tonight was the night, he had been planning this for a few weeks now since the Headmaster announced that there would be a prank war between the graduating eighth years. He had to admit that Dumbledore definitely had to be one of the best Headmasters of Hogwarts, it also helped that he seemed to be a big supporter of the antics of himself, James and Remus, occasionally getting help from the very timid and often quiet Peter Pettigrew.

"What's up Prongs?"

James shrugged, "Just wondering what you've been planning in secret for so long since this prank war was announced"

Sirius smirked and patted his friend on the shoulder, "All in due time James, all in due time. All I will say though is that the Slytherin's won't know what hit them"

James shook his head and laughed, "If it's anything like your other pranks then I'm sure they won't! We still have to get them back for beating us at the Quidditch match the other week"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to get them back tonight" Sirius stated as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait

The Fat Lady eyed the two boys curiously, almost sensing what they were up to before asking "Password?"

"Wattlebird"

The portrait swung open to reveal the Gryffindor common room, James and Sirius entered together still chatting animatedly about the upcoming prank. Just as they were about to go up to the dormitory Remus appeared by their side. "Be careful, I spied Peter snooping around the dormitory before I came down, he must be looking for your prank Sirius. Must be trying to copy it"

Sirius grimaced, "Why can't that nuisance ever come up with an original idea on his own? He needs to stay out of my stuff too!"

With that Sirius bolted up the stairs and into their room, and just as Remus had said, Peter was currently looking all over the room, the poor boy wasn't even trying to hide it! Sirius coughed slightly to make his presence aware and almost laughed in response as Peter jumped almost a foot in the air before jumping onto his bed and hid under the blankets. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Oh wise up Pettigrew" Sirius laughed, "It's only me"

Peter peeked his head up from under his blanket and sighed in relief as he saw that it was in fact Sirius who came into the room.

"What are you up to Wormtail? Looking for something?"

Peter gulped and shook his head nervously, "W-Why would I be looking for something? I haven't lost anything"

"Oh no reason" Sirius sighed, finding his nails interesting to look at as he toyed with Peter. "It just seemed like you were looking for something when I came in. You weren't by any chance looking for my prank were you?"

"N-No" Peter squeaked, he was now a shaking mess under his blankets

"Curious, very curious indeed" Sirius mused before smirking at his younger friend. "You're never going to find it Wormtail. It's hidden somewhere were no one will find it but me. So for once in your young life go steal someone else's idea or come up with your own. I've worked too long and hard on this prank just for someone else to steal the glory"

Peter gulped and nodded, "Okay. I-I'll do that. Sorry S-Sirius"

When Sirius didn't reply the younger boy took off like a rocket and ran back downstairs to the common room, thankfully leaving Sirius alone to finish off the rest of his plans. Sirius shut the door and put a locking spell on the door so he wouldn't be disturbed before going to his bed. He pulled the heavy blanket up from the end of the bed before getting onto his hands and knees to pull a sheet covered cage from underneath the bed. He pulled the cover up and grinned at the sight before him, "Hey little guys. You're going to do a great job for me tonight aren't you? They'll never know what's coming. Those slimy gits deserve it, especially Snivellus and Malfoy. Let the prank war begin"

\-------

After ensuring that his plan was still safe and in motion Sirius joined his friends for dinner, enjoying another hearty meal with good laughs. All too soon they left the Great Hall with their bellies full and aching from laughter, as they neared the common room Sirius pulled Remus aside and waited until the last of the first years trickled by before speaking to him. "Are we all set for tonight?"

Remus nodded, "They fell for it so easily" He chuckled, usually Remus found it hard to let go and pull a prank. More often than not he was worrying about his monthly problem and how to control it, he had to admit though having Sirius and James, sometimes Peter too, helped a lot. It got quite lonely in the shrieking some nights, he would never be able to repay Dumbledore for all the kindness he had shown him during his time at Hogwarts.

"And you left them everywhere in the common room?"

Remus nodded and grinned, "I was even able to slip some into Malfoy's underwear. Do you know that he leaves a spare pair of underwear on his bed? I overhead a few guys talking about it in the dormitory, he apparently changes them every evening after dinner"

Sirius simply stared at Remus for a moment before breaking out into gales of laughter, he was laughing that hard that tears begun to fall from his eyes. "That's hilarious! Ooh we have to tell James that after tonight! He'll be wanting to use it in his prank against him. Also you must have done a damn good job on that polyjuice potion and imitation of Jones to fool those Slytherin's. Mind you, they are quite dimwitted so they would really fall for anything wouldn't they?"

Remus laughed along with Sirius before nodding in agreement, "What time are you putting this prank into motion then?"

"Probably very soon, so I after I leave I need you to give it five or ten minutes before directing everyone down to the dungeons, I want to make sure that no one from our house misses this!

Remus laughed and shook his head at his friend. "I don't think anyone would want to miss this for the world"

"Of course they wouldn't! Plus it will probably stop someone from embarrassing themselves if they try to out prank me"

The two boys made their way back to the common room were everyone was still gathered and enjoying their free evening. After quickly reminding Remus of his part in the plan and speaking to James to make sure he could use his invisibility cloak Sirius dashed up the stairs, he cast a levitating charm on the hidden crate before draping the cloak over it and himself. As he made his way back downstairs he couldn't help but look around at everyone gathered in the room; most of them he would consider family. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but the thought of leaving this place and having to return to his dreadful home killed him. He was going to miss his friends, especially James and Remus, a lot. Hopefully they would be able to see each other a lot over the summer.

Shaking that thought from his mind Sirius made his way to the door where Remus was standing expectantly, he tapped him on the shoulder and couldn't help but laugh as he jumped in surprise. Remus pushed the portrait door open for him to allow him to climb out and once he was free he made his descent to the dungeons, it didn't take him too long to get there and once he made sure the coast was clear, he pulled the cloak off and also removed the cover from the crate. He stared down at the 5 or 6 Nifflers that were gathered together and grinned as his patted them softly.

"Being friends with Hagrid comes in very handy" Sirius sighed happily and opened the cage.

"Now you listen here guys" He petted them affectionately and almost cooed as they cuddled up beside him, brushing his leg and running to his pockets to try find something shiny. "You go in and show them Slytherin's what you've got okay? You may encounter some horrible things but remember the aim is to embarrass as many of them as you can, okay?"

Sirius didn't know if it was just the prank getting to him but he could swear that the Nifflers nodded their head in understanding at him. He moved to the side and watched as the Nifflers slid themselves under the common room entrance just in time as the Gryffindor's appeared from the corner.

"Greetings one and all!" Sirius bellowed, "Are we all ready to get some revenge on the Slytherin's?"

The Gryffindor's cheered in agreement, but not too loudly so as to give them away but quietly enough that Sirius could still hear them. They moved around the corner again to hide themselves and it was a good thing they did as no sooner had they moved the door to the common room swung open and a pile of Slytherin students fell outside, screaming and running in what seemed like terror.

Sirius, James and Remus broke out into fits of laughter as they spotted a flash of blonde hair, which obviously belonged to Lucius Malfoy who was waving madly at his trousers, trying to get something out of them. In his earlier adventure to the enemies territory Remus had managed to replace Lucius Malfoy's belt with a pure silver belt, ensuring that the Niffler would go straight for him. It got even better when in the haste to get the Niffler off of him, Lucius abandoned all reasoning and stripped to his underwear, making the rest of the Gryffindor erupt into laughter as they saw his dark green boxer shorts emblazoned with dragons on them, it also helped that somehow Remus also managed to attach a pocket watch to the back of his boxers so unknown Malfoy the Niffler continued to chase after him as he ran down the hallway.

"Magnificent Padfoot!" James roared with laughter as he clipped his friend on the back of the shoulders.

"There's more where that came from Prongs!" Sirius grinned, ideas forming and calculating in his mind.

The prank war had officially begun.

 


	24. Better Man - Ron Weasley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron has to come to terms with the fact that Hermione has moved on. With his brother.

_You and I had something special, baby_   
_Something that you only see on movie screens_   
_I know lately I've been missing you like crazy_   
_Oh why, why d'you let me in just to let me go?_

Ron rested against the wooden door frame which led into the kitchen as he gazed upon the new couple of the Weasley family, he didn't know how or when it had happened and truthfully he didn't really want to know, it would probably just make him feel worse than he already did. They had yet to notice him in the doorway and he was silently thankful for the darkness that covered him, part of him felt bad for intruding on a private moment between the pair but he needed to see it for himself, to see if it was truly real between them or if he had a shot at winning her back.

They were both helping Mrs Weasley with the dishes, instead of using magic to make it quicker and easier they decided to do it the Muggle way; she currently had her arms deep in the basin of water and his brother was leaning casually against the counter with the dish towel over his shoulder as he waited for the dishes to be washed so he could dry them. They were talking quietly amongst themselves but then his brother leaned in and whispered something into the girl's ear which made her blush furiously and break out into a fit of giggles.

Ron frowned and felt the familiar pit of jealously and regret pool in his stomach. He used to be able to make her smile and laugh like that, now instead he was just a friend or a brother to her. After their break up he always thought that they would get back together but how wrong he was, after 6 months he slowly lost hope about their reconciliation. Then after a year, came the news that floored Ron, they were at their usual Sunday dinner at the Burrow when they decided to drop the news about their new relationship.

_Molly smiled around the large group of people gathered around her table that she called her family, mostly everyone was here bar two people who always seemed to arrive late. She was always grateful to be blessed with such a big family, no matter how hard it was during the years when the children were still growing up, she wouldn't change it for the world. As she was about to tell everyone to dig in and she would just reheat the food for the others later, the familiar sound of the Floo went off in the living room and not a moment later a soot covered Charlie Weasley walked through the door, a bright grin on his face._

_"Hello family!"_

_There was a chorus of greetings from around the table but the loudest came from Molly who came close to bursting into tears at the sight of her second eldest son, she helped him to vanish the soot from his clothes before pulling him into a tight embrace, as they let go of each other she raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hips._

_"Would you like to tell me why you were late to dinner this evening?"_

_Charlie chuckled, trying to hide the smirk from his face as he faced off with his Mother. "Sorry Mum, my girlfriend and I just got...distracted a bit"_

_There was a moment of silence before the room went into uproar, mostly because of Molly Weasley's squeals of delight knowing that her son had finally settled down with someone whereas the rest of the dinner table were discussing loudly amongst themselves on who it could possibly be_

_"And where is this mystery girl Charles Weasley?" Molly demanded_

_Charlie laughed and patted her hand, "Don't worry Mum, she'll be here in a minute"_

_The sound of the Floo going again made the already alert Molly Weasley run to the door with anticipation, she just hoped that whoever this girl was, was a good match for her son. She was all ready to give the Mother speech when Hermione tumbled through the Floor, coughing and spluttering as she tried to get the soot off her clothes._

_"Hermione?" Molly frowned, she glanced back at Charlie as if to question him where his girlfriend was but he just smiled back at her._

_"Hi Mrs Weasley" Hermione greeted once she had control over her breathing, she quickly vanished the remaining soot on her clothes before glancing behind Molly to find a smirking Charlie. She knew what that look meant and as she connected eyes with Molly again she felt her face heating up._

_"It's so good to see you dear" Molly smiled and hugged her tightly before turning round to her son again._

_"Charles Weasley, were you pulling a prank on your Mother" Molly's voice was dangerously low, and if it were someone else they would have cowered in fear at the older woman. But not Charlie, instead he stood his ground and grinned._

_"Of course I wasn't Mother dearest. My girlfriend is here, right now"_

_Finally Molly connected the dots, she glanced between the smirking Charlie and the bright red Hermione as the realisation dawned on her. As she continued to remain silent Hermione's fear grew, she knew they shouldn't have told everyone so soon, if this was how Mrs Weasley was reacting she could just imagine what the rest of the family would be like. But then to her surprise, Mrs Weasley burst into tears as she grabbed the both of them into a bone crushing hug._

_"Oh my boy!" She sniffled. "I couldn't imagine a better match for you"_

_Charlie and Hermione glanced at each other as they continued to hug Molly, Hermione looked relieved while Charlie looked like the cat who ate the canary. "And Hermione, my dear. I'm so glad you've found someone else. Especially another one of my boys! You don't know how happy this has made me"_

_"We're glad that you're happy for us Mum" Charlie smiled as they were finally released from her grasp. "Hermione was worried that you wouldn't be too happy about the age gap"_

_Molly shook her head, "Nonsense. Age is just a number. If you both are happy that's all matters. Love can hit you unexpectedly and can be with someone who you didn't expect. I would never judge either of you. I'm just glad you two have found each other"_

_At Molly's words, Hermione felt the worry slip away and it was replaced by happiness at the fact their relationship was accepted by the Weasley matriarch. Charlie sensing the happiness radiating from Hermione, wrapped a gentle arm around her waist and pressed a sweet kiss to her temple. "Will we go join them?"_

_Hermione nodded in agreement and allowed him to gently steer her into the kitchen were the rest of the curious Weasley's sat, as they entered the room all eyes flashed down to Charlie's arm wrapped around her waist and Hermione felt her face grow red again at the sudden attention. Her eyes at first found Ron's, his own eyes dropped to look at the intimate touch before a grimace followed. It was tonight that he had been hoping to speak to Hermione, he needed to know if he still had a chance to win her back, but seeing her now with his brother and how happy they looked together, Ron knew he had lost her for good._

_"You two are looking awfully chummy" Fred quipped, a smirk on his lips_

_Charlie rolled his eyes, "I would like to think I was being more than chummy with my girlfriend, dear brother"_

_Silence again enveloped the room before two voices shouted out in unison, one in delight while the other was in disbelief and anger. "GIRLFRIEND?"_

_Ginny squealed happily and enveloped Hermione tightly, grateful that there was another chance for her to become her sister legally. While Ginny was gushing to the happy couple, Ron was gripping onto the wooden table and glaring at his brother with a look of hatred in his eyes. How could Charlie do this to him? How could Hermione do this to them? After everything they had been through she goes and shacks up with his own brother. Ron shook his head and excused himself quietly from the table, storming out into the back garden and down to the small pond in the garden to ponder how this could have happened._

_"Most guys will get high when feeling low_   
_But I don't think that that's the way to go_   
_Sometimes I'll be sitting on my own_   
_Thinking 'bout life, thinking 'bout you and me_

_How do you lose the one you love?_   
_After giving it all, you gave it up_   
_Maybe my love wasn't enough_   
_You think you know, but you never can_   
_How do you lose your only plan?_   
_Well darling, just give me one more chance_   
_And I'll give you everything I have_   
_I'll try to be a better man"_

Thinking back to that moment, Ron couldn't imagine another time he had felt more pain that that, to him it was the ultimate betrayal from one of his best friends and the woman he loved. He knew he screwed up, quite badly too, but he always thought that they could work it and move past it, not end things for good. It had been a few months since their big reveal at the Sunday and everyone, with the exception of himself, had gotten used to them as a couple and welcomed it warmly.

Most people probably would have moved on by now, the girl of his dreams had found someone else so why couldn't he just move on now and be happy himself, it just so happened that her new someone was one of his eldest brother's and something about that just cut deeper than if it had been someone completely new. Ron sighed and tore himself away from staring at the happy couple, if he didn't stop staring someone would surely notice, he was surprised someone hadn't already. But then again it was Harry and Ginny's engagement party so all eyes were focused on the boy who lived and his fiance. So Ron done his best to mingle with the guests, as the best man he gave an congratulatory speech to toast his best friend and sister, making some crude jokes along the way much to the pleasure of the twins and the dismay of his mother.

After what felt like an eternity he saw Hermione slipping out the front door, probably to get some fresh air, he still knew to this day that she sometimes felt crowded at parties and would sometimes need cool air to help her relax. Seeing that his brother was distracted Ron followed her outside, he didn't need to go too far as he noticed her almost immediately perched on the swinging bench close to the front door. He silently walked across the green lawn and took a seat beside her, not quite sure if he was ready or wanted to have this conversation.

_I felt things when we were naked_   
_I saw an angel, but they've hidden their wings, I know_   
_Everyone's got that special baby_   
_Oh, I, now I only see you in my dreams_

_Most guys will get high when feeling low_   
_But I don't think that that's the way to go_   
_Sometimes I'll be sitting on my own_   
_Thinking 'bout life, thinking 'bout you and me_

"Hi Ron" Hermione smiled wearily, almost sensing what this conversation was going to lead to.

"Hey Mione" Ron smiled back, his heart hammering so hard inside of his chest it felt ready to explode.

"You enjoying the party?"

Ron sighed, "Not really no"

Hermione didn't want to ask, but she had to. "And why not?"

"You can't tell?" Ron rolled his eyes, "And I thought you were meant to be the Brightest Witch of her Age"

"Don't be snarky with me Ronald" Hermione narrowed her eyes, almost rivalling Voldemort, even he would have turned even colder her death stare. "If you can't spit out what you've waited all night to come and say to me then you can just go back inside and forget it"

Ron groaned, this was exactly what he wanted to avoid. A confrontation with Hermione was never a good thing, she practically outwitted him in every department and once she got mad he wouldn't be able to get a word in. "I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't mean to be snarky or whatever" He sighed, suddenly finding the ground extremely interesting.

"Then what did you come to tell me?"

Ron pursed his lips, he had never been the best at expressing his feelings especially when they had been together but right now it seemed like the hardest thing in the world, but he knew he had to be a man and even if she rejected him, then he could eventually handle that and move on. But part of him still hoped that he had a shot. It was time to take his chance. "So it's been hard having to see you and my brother together, I'm sure you can understand why"

Hermione nodded, "I do understand, it must be difficult for you to see us together" she watched Ron carefully, trying to gauge his reaction however that was quite hard to do when it was almost pitch black outside. "But Ron, you do also realise it has been over a year since we broke up. I know that doesn't make it any easier but..."

"No, it doesn't" Ron butted in, trying to hide his anger but not succeeding very well. "He's still my brother and you're still my ex-girlfriend. There's a rule you know!"

"A rule" Hermione scoffed, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. "And what rule is that?"

"The brother code" Ron shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The rule is that your brother shouldn't date any of your ex-girlfriends, they're off limits"

As the words tumbled out of his mouth Ron instantly regretted it, why did he always have to let his temper get the best of him instead of thinking his responses out logically? Hermione's frown deepened and she turned herself directly towards Ron so she was now facing him. "Off limits? I'm sorry but you cannot dictate who I can or cannot date. If I want to date one of your brother's then I may very well do so, I'm a grown woman!"

"But...But you were mine! I mean we were together for a long time. And then when we broke up you just went straight to him! He's my brother Hermione, not just some random bloke you use and throw away"

Hermione clenched her fists in frustration and she rose from her chair, "Of course I know he's your brother you dolt! If the red hair didn't give it away then the appetite on him certainly would have. And I know he's not some random bloke, he's my boyfriend and I care deeply for him. No scratch that, I love him"

Ron spluttered before rising from his own face to confront her, "You love him? You love him?! You barely know him and you've barely been dating! How can you love him?"

"We've been dating for a while now surely you can remember that? Exactly 6 months. And who cares the length of time it's been, you can't control your feelings and when you know you love someone then you just know. I'm pretty sure I knew I loved him within the first month of us dating" Hermione's eyes glanced to something just behind of Ron, a dopey smile appearing for a moment before disappearing as she glared at her ex-boyfriend. "And of course I know him, I've known him since I was fifteen and I had a crush on him then! So don't you dare tell me I can feel a certain way or that I don't know him. You can't control me"

Ron sighed, feeling himself deflate with every word she said, he had truly lost her to his brother and to be honest he couldn't blame her, he was the one who messed up their relationship and he was the cause of their break up. He just missed her so much and getting to see his brother creating their own memories and be with her romantically, it hurt.

_How do you lose the one you love?_   
_After giving it all, you gave it up_   
_Maybe my love wasn't enough_   
_You think you know, but you never can_

_How do you lose your only plan?_   
_Well darling, just give me one more chance_   
_And I'll give you everything I have_   
_I'll try to be a better man_   
_I've been up and I've been down_   
_Think that's just what love's about_   
_You took the words right out my mouth_   
_If you feel it, say it now_   
_It's been a while but I've figured it out_   
_But it ain't just what love's about?_   
_You took the words right out my mouth_   
_But if you feel it, say it now_

"Look Hermione, we've gotten really off track. What I wanted to say to you was that I'm sorry" Ron admitted, taking a deep breath as he tried to voice his feelings for the first time. "I'm sorry for all the hurt and pain that I've caused you, I wish I could take all the pain and heartache back. All I want is one more chance with you, seeing you with my brother it kills me, knowing that he gets to hold you like I used to do, creating new memories together and getting to be in your company. It's the hardest thing for me to accept, but if you tell me right now that there's no chance at all that we could be together again then that's fine, it'll be hard but I'll accept it and try to move on and be happy for you"

Hermione was stunned to say the least, she knew Ron had been keeping something from her and even though they weren't as close as they used to be before their break up she had still hoped that he could trust her with whatever he was holding in but she definitely did not expect this. "Ron, I...I don't know what to say"

"Say yes to giving me another chance. We can go away, just you and me, only for a little while until everything here would settle down and we can get everything right between us again. All you need to do is say yes" Ron smiled and held his hand out towards her, ready to apparate them from the Burrow within a second if that's what she wanted.

Hermione shook her head, taking a moment or two to gather her thoughts before speaking again. "Look Ron, you and I had been together for a while and at first it was amazing, even though we fought like crazy" They both laughed for a moment, getting flashbacks of some of their worst fights over the stupidest little things. "But that was all ruined after what you done, I've forgiven you now but I don't think I could ever trust you again, that's why I broke up with you straight away because I know my self worth and I know that I deserve the best kind of love and someone who will treat me how I'm meant to be treated. This is going to sound really mean and I'm sorry for it, but Charlie is the better man. He's the better man for me and now that I have him in my life I'm actually grateful for you hurting me because it brought me him"

Ron closed his eyes for a moment, wondering if he was going to cry or get angry but right now he just felt...empty. He knew it was a long shot getting her back but he had to take the risk and let her know how he felt before he truly moved on, for him Hermione was always going to be the one who got away and he only had himself to blame. "I understand" he whispered. "You don't have to worry about being mean, I know I've been mean to you for a lot of our friendship and relationship, which I really do regret Hermione. But I will admit that I can see how happy you two are together and I'm glad you've found someone that can give you the love you deserve, I just wish it was me. And I promise that from now on I will try to be more accepting of you and Charlie, I know he'll treat you right and won't hurt you"   
Hermione smiled sadly and gave Ron a brief hug, "Thank you Ron, it means a lot to hear that from you" She pulled away and shivered slightly as the cold air nipped at her skin. "I'm sorry it wasn't what you wanted to hear but I've moved on and I'm happy. It's time for you to do the same" She patted his arm gently. "I'm going to head back in now, you coming?"

"Nah" Ron shook his head and tried to smile, "I'm going to say out here for a bit"

Hermione nodded in understanding, "Well be sure to use a warming charm, it's freezing out here". With that Hermione turned away and walked the short distance to the front door, Ron watched as it was pulled open almost as if someone had been waiting to open it. He saw Charlie step out from the door with his jacket, he draped it delicately over Hermione's shoulders before pressing a sweet kiss to her temple. Charlie then glanced over at him, a sad but understanding smile on his face as he nodded towards him before whisking Hermione back inside to warm up.

_How do you lose the one you love? (how do you lose?)_   
_After giving it all, you gave it up_   
_And maybe my love wasn't enough_   
_You think you know, but you never can_   
_And how do you lose your only plan?_   
_Well darling, just give me one more chance_   
_And I'll give you everything I have_   
_I'll try to be a better man_

"I promise I'll try to be a better man"

 


	25. Truth or Dare - Hermione and Charlie

"Game time!"

Hermione groaned as she heard the squeal of delight from Ginny as she came bounding down the stairs, the younger girl had to be one of the most enthusiastic game players that Hermione had ever known. How someone could get so excited about any type of game was beyond her, maybe it could be that when Hermione was younger she was never included in the games with the rest of the girls her age, that was why she preferred the company of books rather then people sometimes. But since she's known Ginny she's been forced into playing every game she could think of.

Speaking of the so called Witch, she flung herself down beside Hermione with a wicked gleam in her eye, Hermione could tell she was up to no good. "And what game is it this time Ginny?"

"Truth or Dare" Ginny wiggled her eyebrows. Operation Stun The Dragon was now in motion, ever since Charlie had moved home from Romania she had seen the longing glances both he and Hermione were sharing, it looked like neither of them were going to do anything about so Ginny took it upon herself to bring the pining couple together, with the help of her mischievous twin brothers too.

"Come on Ginny, truth or dare? Really?" Hermione sighed and closed the book she was reading

"Hermione" Ginny whined, pouting slightly to get the desired effect.

"All I'm saying is that truth or dare is for kids. We are adults" Hermione smirked

Ginny narrowed her eyes, "You will be playing Miss Granger. Everyone needs a little bit of childish fun in their life, and just think. You can try get the twins or Ron back for everything that they've done to you"

Hermione pursed her lips, she had to admit that Ginny made a good point, by playing truth or dare she could get at least a little bit of revenge on her brothers for the torment they put her through during their time at Hogwarts, now it was her turn and they had no idea what to expect.

"Okay, you've convinced me"

Ginny squealed happily and pulled her to her feet, "I knew I would" With that she pulled her along out into the kitchen where everyone was already gathered. Hermione looked around to see the members of their game, all together there was Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie and the game master herself, Ginny. Hermione blushed as she realised that one of the only open seats was beside Charlie and just her luck Ginny pushed her into that seat.

"Now that we are all gathered here today" Ginny smiled, eyes twinkling with mischief. "Today's game is truth or dare"

Fred and George whooped in delight, they had always been fans of this game especially the dares, while the others just shrugged and waited to hear what the catch would be. "Now because we all are witches and wizards, there's going to be a bit of a twist on this game. Firstly, if you choose truth then you will have to take some of this to make sure you're not lying" Ginny grinned and pulled out a bottle of veritaserum.

"And where" Fred began

"Dear sister" George continued as they both smirked at their sister

"Did you pull that from?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, "I didn't steal it if that's what you're trying to imply"

"And here we thought are dear sister was going to follow into our mischievous footsteps"

"There's still plenty of time for that" Ginny smirked and winked at her brothers, giving them the signal that their plan was now in motion. A flash of recognition appeared in Fred's eyes and he quickly leaned over to whisper in George's ear who realised what was happening and smirked, this game was going to be interesting.

"And what if we don't complete a dare?" Ron asked, mouth stuffed with one of Mrs Weasley's home made muffins.

"Those punishments will be decided by Fred and George of course" Ginny giggled at the fear that hit Ron's eyes as he glanced at the twins, there was no way he wanted to be at the end of one their punishments.

"Let this game begin then dear sister" Bill hollered eliciting a round of cheers.

"Fine, fine" Ginny grumbled and took her seat, she placed the bottle of veritaserum in the middle of the table. "Now, I think because it was my idea for this game then I should go first"

Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat, knowing all too well where this could lead to, she really was going to have to find a way to get back at Ginny.

Ginny drummed her hands on the table as she glanced around to find her first victim, her eyes landed on Bill for a second and a devilish smirk lit up her face. At the sight of the look on his sister's face, Bill couldn't help but grimace at the thought of what she was going to do to him, for a curse breaker he was easily frightened by Ginny and that was because he had been on the receiving end of one of her bat bogey hexes, after that he learned to never underestimate her again.

"Bill" Ginny smiled sweetly, "Truth or Dare?"

Bill had to choose his option wisely, he had no idea what his sister had planned but he knew it would be good whatever it is. "Truth"

Ginny pouted and stuck her tongue out at her eldest brother, of course he would be the boring one to choose truth first. "Fine, I'll go easy on you this time but if you keep choosing truth then you'll have a punishment"

Bill shook his head, the twins had definitely corrupted their young sister into a mischief maker in the making. "Do your worst little sister" He smirked at her

"Bill, my dear brother. My first and only easy question for you is" Ginny pretended to look thoughtful for a moment, as if she really had to think about a question after having her own list compiled since she started at Hogwarts. "After you've dropped a piece of food, what's the longest time you've left it on the ground and then ate it?"

Bill blinked, he definitely hadn't been expecting such an easy question from Ginny, he thought she had just been fooling him when she said she would take it easy this round. "Well, to be honest, I am a Weasley and I love my food so I try not to let too much of it go anywhere except my mouth"

Beside him, Charlie begin to snigger, knowing all too well the extent of the infamous Weasley hunger, as he continued to laugh he could feel someone watching him, glancing to his side he was pleasantly surprised to find Hermione staring at him. Charlie poked his tongue out at her and winked, causing the intended reaction of a fiery blush to grace her cheeks. Bill nudged Charlie in the stomach and gave him the 'we need to talk later' look. Charlie nodded before urging him to answer the question.

"And may I add, I am also part Werewolf now" Bill dramatically highlighted the scars gracing his face. "So to answer your question sister, I don't think I've ever dropped a piece of food in the ground because my reflexes are too fast, I catch it before it hits the ground" He smirked at the stunned reactions of his siblings

"Bill, you put way too much thought into that answer" Ron mumbled as he stuffed his face with a biscuit.

"At least I have a brain to think with"

The group at the table began to laugh and the more the laughter grew, the redder Ron become. "Okay, okay settle down" Ginny called out, still letting out a few giggles every now and then. "Bill as you answered your question, it's your turn"

Bill smirked, one that could rival Ginny's, as he glanced around the table for his victim. He was tempted to choose Charlie so he could embarrass him on front of Hermione, Charlie had definitely made a mistake in telling him about his feelings for her, although he wouldn't outright tell Hermione that Charlie liked her considering he was loyal to his brother but he would have some fun with it from time to time until Charlie confessed to her. But maybe that was too easy, so instead he went for Fred.

"Fred, truth or dare?"

Fred's eyes sparkled with delight at even being asked the question, "Is it even a question big brother? Of course I'm going to choose dare!"

Bill laughed, "Very well, thought I'd be nice and still give you a choice" He shrugged and began to think of a dare for him when it suddenly dawned him, he had thought of the perfect dare and one that not even Fred or George would think of.

"I dare you to stuff a bra with ice in it and leave it on your chest for 1 minute"

Fred gawked at his brother, usually Bill was very good at the truth questions, not so much the dares so that's why it was so hard to believe that those words actually came from his mouth. "Are you serious? Where am I going to get a bra from?"

With a flick of his wand and a bit of silent magic Bill manage to conjure up a bra for Fred, it was bright yellow with polka dots. "Something to match your personality. Loud and in your face"

"Very funny" Fred muttered as he grabbed the bra out of his hand, George handed some ice and together they both stuffed it until it was full, as he moved to get attached around the back of his shirt, Bill put his hand out to stop them. "What?"

Bill shook his head, "Now do you really think I asked you to stuff ice in a bra just for you to wear it over your shirt? I don't think so, time for the shirt to come off and the bra of ice to go on"

The rest of the group begun to laugh as Fred begrudgingly took his shirt off, he stared at the bra full of ice for a moment two, already shivering at the thought of what he was about to do. With George's help he managed to stick the bra, gasping in shock as the coldness of the ice hit his chest. "I h-h-h-hate you B-B-Bill"

Bill and the others laughed as they watched Fred begin to shiver, it had been one of his most creative dares but also slightly mean, but after all Fred and George had put them through in the past then they deserve a bit of revenge. He kept his eye on the timer and before he knew it the 1 minute was up. Fred gladly shoved the bra off, putting it out of his sight before pulling his shirt back off. "Watch out Bill, what goes around comes around" He smirked.

The group continued to go around the circle with many of them choosing truth for the first time, trying to go easy before the game got more intense. But after a particular embarrassing question for Ron, whose face now matched the colour of his hair, it was finally Hermione's turn. "Truth or Dare, Hermione?"

Hermione pursed her lips, she had never really been one for dares before but everyone else had been choosing truth and she could slowly see Ginny losing patience with people wimping out of the game, so did she want to play it safe with truth? Or take a risk and pick dare for once in her life. Her eyes briefly met Charlie's, he flashed her a smile of encouragement, almost sensing her dilemma, she knew for know whatever choice she made wouldn't result in her crush being revealed as Ron didn't know, so for once she took the risk. "I choose dare"

"Finally!" Ginny clapped, "I've been waiting for someone to stop being a wimp for once" She glared at her brothers and Harry who shrugged with no remorse for taking the easy way out.

"Right Hermione" Ron smiled, putting a finger under his chin as he tried to think of a dare. "I dare you to hold hands to the person on your right for the rest of the game"

Hermione felt her face heat up as she realised the person sitting to her right was Charlie, as she took a glance at him she missed the looks of delight passing between Ginny, Fred and George, their plan already off to a better start then they had imagined. "Sorry Charlie, do you mind?" She whispered

Charlie chuckled and slipped his hand into hers, intertwining their fingers together and was pleased to find that it felt better than he had already imagined. "Don't worry Hermione, I never refuse to hold hands with a beautiful witch" He winked, laughing even more as he saw the blush on her cheeks deepen ever further.

"If you two lovebirds don't mind, we'd like to get back to the game" Ginny coughed loudly, breaking Charlie and Hermione out of their intense staring contest.

"Sorry Gin" Hermione smiled, "My turn now to ask the question" She hummed thoughtfully as she glanced around the group, every so often she felt a bit of pressure on her hand that was enclosed with Charlie's and she practically had to keep slowing her heart rate down before it burst out of her chest. "Okay, seeing as I'm currently holding hands with him I'll choose Charlie"

"Of course you do" Fred muttered with a ghost of a smirk on his face, ignoring the obvious glare Hermione was sending his way.

"So Charlie" Hermione turned back to him, "Truth or Dare?"

Charlie drummed his fingers on the table as he pretended to think of his choice, "Of course I choose dare"

"Very well" Hermione grinned. "I dare you to eat one spoonful of the spiciest thing in this kitchen"

Charlie raised an eyebrow, "Okay Granger, but just so you know I can handle my spices quite well" He jumped from his chair and went to the cupboards, browsing for a moment or to before finding what he was looking for. He lifted down a tub of chilli powder before getting a spoon and taking his seat once again. "This is what Mum usually puts into her spicy carrot soup, with a little big of magic and some of this, it really packs a punch" He poured a a bit of the powder on the same and raised it to the group, after a moment of preparing himself he stuck the spoon in his mouth and tried to swallow the powder but what he didn't expect was how hard it would be. As soon as the powder hit his mouth it instantly dried up his saliva, his eyes widened in surprise and soon enough tears pricked at his eyes as the spice finally hit the back of his throat. He tried to swallow the powder but accidentally inhaled some of the powder and before he knew it he let out a mighty cough which was followed by a large red powder cloud.

The group watched in stunned disbelief as the powder hit Bill in the face, turning it red in places while Charlie coughed and spluttered the rest of the powder out. "That's horrible!" Charlie yelped and ran to the sink, sticking his head under the faucet to rinse the horrid and spicy taste from his mouth. His siblings, Harry and Hermione laughed as they watched his attempts fail at cooling himself down. After watching on for another moment or two Hermione finally felt bad for him and decided to help him out, she summoned a cold glass of milk and handed it to Charlie, giggling as she watched him chug the pink of milk within a few seconds. Once he had finished he had slammed the glass down of the counter and sighed in relief, his eyes and face both red from the tears and the spice of the powder.

"I think the twins have been a bad influence on you Hermione" Charlie grinned and guided her back to the seats while the twins feigned innocence.

"Us?" Fred gasped

"Bad influences?" George frowned

"Why we have never heard..."

"The likes of it!"

Charlie rolled his eyes before draping his arm casually behind Hermione as they took their places at the table again, not seeing the determined glint in Ginny's eyes he decided to choose his baby sister as his target. "You know the drill Gin"

Ginny rolled her eyes but played along, "Fine, I choose truth"

"And you were giving us a hard time about choosing truths" Charlie smirked but continued on before she could interrupt him, "Fine, my question is. Who is the person you most regret kissing?"

Ginny's eyes widened in surprise, he was fighting fire with fire so if that was how he was going to play, she would fight back just as hard. "As much as I wouldn't want to answer that question on front of my brothers, I'd rather not take a punishment. So the person I most regret kissing would have to be Neville"

Harry almost choked on his drink, he raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend. "Care to elaborate?"

"It was at the Yule Bull, you weren't giving me any attention and still only saw me as your best friend's little sister, I had a great time at the Ball with Neville but his kissing experience wasn't the greatest" Ginny shuddered at the memories. "Felt like a washing machine on a full cycle?"

"A washing what?" Ron frowned, he had never heard of a machine like that before

Ginny waved her hand dismissively, "Never mind, it's a saying that Hermione taught me" she clasped her hands on front her and grinned, her eyes never leaving Hermione and Charlie. "Sorry guys but my next target is Hermione"

"Again? I literally just went" Hermione sighed

"Now, now Hermione. You don't want to ruin the fun do you?"

"No"

"Good, now truth or dare?"

"Dare"

"Oh very bold move" Ginny's eyes sparkled with mischeif, revelling in the fact that Hermione could sense what was about to come. "I dare you to kiss your crush"

"W-what?" Hermione gulped, she was pretty sure her face was as red as a tomato by now

"You heard me, I want you to kiss your crush. It's simple" Ginny smiled sweetly

"It is not simple!"

"Oh but it really is. Or would you rather a punishment?"

Hermione frowned, she had forgotten about that part of the deal for playing this game, she glared at Ginny, she should have realised that this had been a set up for her to reveal her crush to Charlie, she just wished it wasn't on front of everyone though. Ginny could see the fear in Hermione's eyes and decided to give in just a little bit. "If you don't want everyone to see, we can all close our eyes, you take your crush by the hand and go to the linen closest for some privacy but no more than 2 minutes or we open our eyes!" She warned

"That sounds fair" Hermione agreed and watched as the curious group all closed their eyes. She took a deep breath and stood up from her chair before tapping Charlie on the shoulder. His eyes flickered open in shock and....was that delight she could see? He also rose from his own chair and followed her out to the closet, closing the door silently behind them and switching the light on so they could actually see each other.

"Something you'd like to tell me Mione?" Charlie smiled

"Don't call me Mione, you know I hate it" Hermione bit her lip, feeling the butterflies creeping into her stomach as she realised how close she was to him.

"Sorry, Mione" Charlie grinned, ensuring to emphasise her nickname for her and watched the blush spread across her cheeks, without thinking about it he raised his own hand to cup her cheek, gently caressing her soft cheek. "Do you really have a crush on me?"

"What do you think? Would I have tapped you on the shoulder to follow me in here for nothing?"

Charlie chuckled, "I suppose that's true. I'm just surprised as all"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Really? You haven't noticed that I've had a crush on you since the Quidditch World Cup all those years ago?"

"Oh no, I definitely noticed back then" Charlie grinned again, Hermione only noticing now that when he smiled two dimples appeared in both cheeks. "I thought it was cute how you always found something to ask, even if it was about school, Quidditch or my dragons"

Hermione chewed on her lip as she felt the heat spreading to her cheeks once again, and for all those years she had thought she had gotten away with her crush on Charlie, not realising that he had known all along. "It's fine that you don't feel the same. I mean I'm your brother and sister's best friend, you've known me since I was a little kid..."

She was cut off by a pair of lips enveloping her own, her eyes widened in surprise as Charlie moulded his lips to her, she wasn't sure if it was to shut her up or if he felt the same as her but either way she didn't mind and found that it felt much better than her dreams. Hermione melted into the kiss once she had gotten over the initial shock, she wrapped her arms around his neck and played with the short strands of hair just at the nape of his neck, in response Charlie let out a small growl and pulled her flush against him.

The pair were so engrossed in their kiss that neither of them realised that their two minutes of alone time were up until the closet door was yanked open and a loud shriek followed. They jumped apart and turned to find Ron staring at them both. "I feel like I'm about to be sick" He grunted before running back into the kitchen, swearing at Ginny for forcing him into opening the door.

Both Hermione and Charlie erupted into laughter, once they managed to calm themselves down they smiled at each other. Charlie was the first one to break the silence "I know Ginny can be a pain in the ass sometimes but she's one hell of a matchmaker" He held out his hand for her to take, a nervous look on his face as if he was worried that Hermione would reject him after the snog they just had

"I agree" Hermione smiled, gladly putting her small hand into his larger one, "Looks like you're stuck with me now Dragon Tamer"

Charlie chuckled and pressed a sweet kiss to her temple, "I wouldn't have it any other way Bookworm. Now let's rejoin the group, hear their thoughts and then continue on with the game"

The new couple, hand in hand, walked happily back into the kitchen just as the group were dispensing their bets to Ginny, unbeknown to both Charlie and Hermione, everyone had been betting on how long it would take them before pulling their heads out of their arse and getting together. But Hermione found she didn't mind, instead she was rather happy now that she could sit and rest her head on Charlie's shoulder as the game resumed. Life had a funny way of working sometimes, even with the intervention of her best friend and later on in life, sister-in-law.

 


	26. Scars - Victoire and Bill Weasley

It was the 1st September and as always many families stood with their children on the platform to the Hogwarts Express, some of them returning students and many of them first years and new to the world of magic. One of those new students happened to a young 11 year old girl with fiery red hair and a personality to match. She was the young daughter of Bill and Fleur Weasley, who were both holding onto each other tightly at the prospect of having to say goodbye their little girl.

Victoire, on the other hand wasn't one bit bothered, instead she rolled her eyes and glanced around her to see if any other Mother's and Father's were acting like hers, to her surprise there was. "Mum. Dad" She whined. "You both fought in a war but sending me off to school is making you nervous?"

Bill shook his head at his daughter, trying his best not to chuckle. "You're our first born V, of course we're getting to be nervous sending you off to school. Especially me, make sure you stay away from those boys otherwise they'll have me to answer too" He warned

"Yuck, why would I look at boys anyway Dad?"

"That's my girl" Bill grinned and hugged her tightly, hoping that her response to boys wouldn't change for many, many years.

As her parents started conversing together, Victoire took in her surroundings. The steam from the train was wafting around the station, clinging to people in a foggy haze before disappearing as they walked through it, animals of all kind were gathered in their cages as they were slowly carted onto the train one by one. Families were together and saying their goodbyes, Mother's crying and clutching their children so tight they might break while the Father's took a more protective stance and glared at any person who looked at them the wrong way.

Just as she was about to rejoin the conversation with her parents, Victoire noticed a group of girls huddled together just a few feet away from them, they were grouped closely together and seemed to be giggling at something, she couldn't really make out what they were trying to say as they were a bit further away but it all became clear when one of the girls pointed towards her father and his scars on his face before laughing again. Victoire frowned and glanced at her father, trying to gauge his reaction to see if he had seen the girls pointing and laughing but he hadn't seemed to notice as him and her mother were still thoroughly engrossed in their conversation while they waited for her Grandparents to arrive.

The laughter seemed to be getting louder now, and with every little giggle and stare, the anger started rising in her. How dare someone judge another person on their appearance, these girls were born after the war and should know that a lot of different people went through a lot of different things. They have no right to judge. Victoire tried to block them out, she really did but her resolve crumbled when she heard one of the girls say "Those scares look hideous. How he has a family I don't know"

"That's it" She muttered, spinning away from her parents and stalking towards the group of giggling girls.

"Victoire! Where are you going?" Bill yelled behind her but she didn't listen, she was on a collision course and the impact was imminent.

She approached the girls with a pleasant smile on her face, "Hi there! I'm Victoire Weasley, I'm starting first year, I'm assuming you must be too"

The girls watched her in hesitation and while they were distracted Victoire glanced at each one of them quickly: the girl in the middle was clearly the leader, she was slightly taller than the other two and her presence just screamed domineering, her hair was a dark blonde and her eyes were so brown that she at first thought they were black, she was also smacking gum and it took every ounce of strength that Victoire had to not smack it right out of her mouth. The girl to her left was a petite girl, she was the smallest of the group and seemed quite mousy, her brown hair hung straight and loose down her back and her blue eyes darted back from her two friends as if asking what to do. She could be easily swayed into being a nicer person if the right person came along. The final girl obviously seemed to hang onto the leader's every word, her eyes rarely left her and if they did it was only to glance at Victoire for a moment or two. Her hair was also blonde and her eyes were a dark green that seemed alight at the thought of a confrontation, it was clear to her now that those two girls would be the bullies of their year, they had Slytherin written right across their smirking faces.

"Weasley? Where do I know that name?" The leader pursed her lips before laughing. "Oh yeah, you're the pure-blood families who like to associate with muggles! I've heard all about you"

"Yeah?" Victoire smirked, "Then I'm sure you've heard all about my father over there" She nodded in the direction of her Mother and Father who were staring at her questioningly.

"Him? The guy that has half his face ripped off is your father" The girls laughed again, this time sounding like a band of banshees. "I'd be ashamed if I were you?"

"Sorry I didn't catch what your name was" Victoria asked sweetly

"I'm Petunia"

Victoire snorted with laughter, the name bringing back all the vivid stories that her Uncle Harry had told her about his Aunt Petunia, as she stared at the girl she couldn't help but let out some more laughter.

"Think my name's funny do you?"

"No, no" Victoire giggled but shook her head, "It's just...I know of a Petunia"

"And your point?" Petunia sighed

"Well, it's just that a Petunia at first looks like a lovely flower, the purple is so bright and vivid but when you meet someone called that particular name well it doesn't quite have the same effect"

Petunia rolled her eyes, she had no idea what this small and timid first year was trying to do but it wasn't working, or so she thought but Victoire had her in the palm of her hands. She stayed quiet as she let her ramble on. "So the Petunia flower actually symbolises anger and resentment. And by your attitude and tone of voice I can clearly tell you're a very angry person"

"Why you little..." Petunia stepped forward, finding the thought of someone getting one over on her insulting, she always won and she wouldn't let some little girl ruin that now.

Victoire held her hand up, stopping her in her tracks. "How does it feel to be judged before you even know someone? I judged you on your name alone, but you're judging my father based on his looks. So what if he has a few scars? Do you know what those scars represent?"

Petunia shook her head and continued to remain silent but her eyes flickered to Bill for a moment or two, her face flushed with embarrassment as she noticed that he was watching their little exchange.

"My father fought in the Second Wizarding War. He helped win the battle of Hogwarts and he helped a hell of a lot of people. Those scars may represent some hard times but it's also a representation of all he's been through. My Mother and Father have lost a lot during their battle, they went through hell and back to fight for our chance to have a normal life, to grow up in a world were, for the time being, there is no dark lord. So yes my Father has scars, and yes they are very noticeable. But if your parents brought you up as a decent human being, then you should realise that there is no place for prejudice in this world anymore. Not about blood status or looks or race or anything. I don't know if your parents fought in the war or if they ran away like little cowards to protect themselves but at the end of the day, they should teach you right from wrong and I can tell you with certainty that if you start Hogwarts with that attitude, you'll not have very many friends."

Petunia and her friends stared at Victoire in shock, their mouths hanging open slightly agape, at first Petunia was furious, how dare someone judge her for her name and then make a mockery of her parents. But there was a part of her that felt bad and incredibly guilty for judging her father before she had even spoke to them. Her parents had raised her right, they had taught her right from work and what was good and bad. But she thought by assuming this role of the bad girl that she would be more respected at Hogwarts, she would be able to make friends a little easier but seeing how passionately Victoire had reacted to her prejudice just proved to her how wrong her choice was, she didn't want to be hated. All she wanted was to be liked and to have friends.

"I....I..." Petunia was at a loss of words, all she could do was look down at the ground and wish that the ground would swallow her whole.

"I know" Victoire smiled, "You don't have to say it. All I want is for you to watch who are, people aren't going to be how they were all those years ago before the Second Wizarding War. Sure there'll probably still be some prejudiced people, you will always get them, but don't join them. Let the world have one less prejudiced person on this planet, it would do everyone the world of good. It's either be the good person or end up with a reputation like Draco Malfoy who had to spend years making up for his and his father's mistakes"

Petunia nodded solemnly, feeling ashamed of herself for her treatment of the young girl and her family, she had heard the story of Draco and his family. How after his Father was carted off to Azkaban the world turned on him and his Mother, even though Harry Potter spoke for them during their trial and was able to persuade the Ministry into not sending them to Azkaban but rather do a form of community service for many years until their debt to society was paid off, but after that they had to work hard to restore the Malfoy name and bring honour back to their family which was not an easy to feat to do, or so claimed her father. She didn't want to end up like them, she didn't want to be hated for the rest of her life.

"Okay, I see your point" Petunia whispered, her two friends staring at her in shock, how could she cave to someone so quickly like that?

"Good" Victoire nodded and turned to walk away, but paused for a moment and looked back at Petunia and stared into her eyes. "But if you ever laugh at my father or my family again. I'll waste no time in sending a bat bogey hex your way" She smirked at the fear in the girls eyes as she walked back to her parents.

Bill chuckled quietly to himself as their daughter came back to them, the young group of girls who had looked so confident and cocky in themselves now looked like they had been taken down a peg or two. What surprised him the most was that as soon as Victoire reached them she threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. "What was that about sweetie?"

"Oh nothing, just teaching some girls about how to not be prejudice"

Bill let out a barking laugh as he hugged his daughter, "I think you've been spending too much time with your Aunt Hermione. Now come on so we can get you on that train"

The young family gathered her belongings and helped her get on the train, both Fleur and Bill watched on nervously as Victoire found her carriage, it wasn't long before she was poking her head out the window and waving madly to them as the train pulled away, and as it did Bill caught a glimpse of her carriage being full. He smiled brightly at his daughter and as she smiled back at him, blowing a kiss towards him which he willing caught, Bill knew then that everything would be okay.

 


	27. This Is What Family Is For - George and Hermione

George stood on front of the entrance to the shop, a pensive and anxious expression on his face, this was the first time he has been back at the shop since Fred had died. He grimaced at the thought of his deceased twin, it still didn't feel real. It had been 6 months since the Battle of Hogwarts and ever since that night everything had changed. Many people had lost their lives: Fred, Remus, Tonks, even Professor Snape. And sure George had been sad at the loss of his friends, he even felt some slight remorse from Snape even after all the detentions he had given them. But the only death that rocked him to his core was Fred's.

They had been partners in crime ever since they were born, everyone always said that twins had an unexplained bond. One would never be seen without the other, their Mother had one hell of a time when they were sick, if George was sick then Fred had to be sick too or if Fred was sick then George had to be sick, it was a surprise they left their Mum with time to spend with the rest of their siblings.

So for George to be standing on the door step of their premises without his twin, it was the strangest feeling in the world. As he stood at the bright orange doors and watched through the window was Verity was restocking the items before the reopening, George felt paralysed. Everything around him was going in slow motion and he felt stuck, like he wouldn't be able to move again. Fear crept up inside of him and for what seemed to be for the first time in his life, George felt like a let down. He made a silent promise to Fred that he would continue running the joke shop and would keep his memory alive, but as he stood rigid and not moving outside of the door, he felt like he had let his brother down.

Suddenly a gentle hand took hold of his hand and squeezed it firmly, it was a gentle but firm squeeze, which just so happened to break him out of his thoughts. He finally took a deep breath, which he hadn't realised that he was holding and stared in the chocolate brown eyes of Hermione Granger.

"You're okay, George" She smiled sadly

George gulped, trying to find the words to comprehend what he was feeling but Hermione shook her head.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm here for you. If this is too much for you, you don't have to do it today. It's one baby step at a time remember and look at how far you got yourself today! That's amazing progress. It was only a few weeks ago you weren't even able to come down the alley towards the shop"

George felt a tear sliding down his cheek but didn't dare wipe it away. "I just feel like I've let Fred down" He admitted

"Oh George" Hermione frowned, her own heart was breaking at the sight of usually one of the happiest people she knows slowly crumbling into nothing, she knew George had been lost without Fred but she didn't know just how had it had been until she received a call from Molly asking her to help him, she was of course worried for her son and wanted any help she could get, which was why Hermione was here today. George had been making remarkable process over the past few months and even though the loss of Fred was still hurting him, everyone could see the sparkle coming back into his eyes. It would just take time and effort until George would be able to fully cope without his twin, but even then the hurt of losing his brother who was also his best friend would never fully go away.

"You haven't let Fred down at all" Hermione reassured him. "I think Fred is looking down on you right now and he's proud of the progress that you've made. You can do it George, and I know how much a promise means to you, you'll never break that promise to Fred"

George sniffed and nodded, his heart was hammering inside of his chest at the thought of pushing through the doors and stepping back into the world they created together. "You're right Granger" He smiled through his tears at her, and even though Hermione usually hated them using her last name she still laughed too.

"When am I not?" She teased, both laughing together before falling into a comfortable silence

"I'm just scared you know" George sighed, his eyes now firmly planted on the doors to the shop. "Like what if I can't do this on my own? What if I can't come up with any new ideas for products? What if Fred was the brain behind all of the jokes? How can I run this shop without my brother?"

"Firstly, you can do this on your own, this may be different but remember that time when Fred was so ill you couldn't get him out of bed and you had to be here by yourself because Verity was also on holiday. That proves you can run the store by yourself" Hermione smiled. "Secondly, the day you don't come up with any new product ideas will be the day that I'm no longer the brightest witch of her age" She laughed

"Never then?" George laughed

"Exactly, you'll always have new product ideas because something will always inspire you and I can also tell you that Fred was not the only brain behind the jokes, it was a joint effort. I always remember seeing you two bent over that parchment in the corner of the common room and as soon as I came over to scold you for it you both gave each other this...look before running off" Hermione smiled and squeezed his hand once again. "You can run this shop George, you have all the strength and the courage to do it. Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth yet? Absolutely"

George felt his heart swell with love for the young witch on front of him, she had always been like a little sister to him and knowing that she thought so highly of him meant the world to him. Just knowing that even one person had a little bit of faith him gave him some comfort.

"Besides, you don't have to do it all alone" Hermione grinned

"What do you think?" George raised an eyebrow at her

"Well, I kind of left my job at the Ministry" She admitted

George's eyes widened in shock and surprise, she left the Ministry of Magic? Hell must have really frozen over because he thought he would never see the day that Hermione would leave a job she loved. "What do you mean you left?"

Hermione shrugged, "It means I handed in my resignation because I found something that means more to me that I want to do?"

"And what has just became so important to Miss Granger, who was once the future Minister for Magic in training, that she would leave her prestigious job?"

Hermione couldn't help but smile to herself again, the George they all knew and loved was definitely still in there, he just needed some help and comfort to be released again. "That should be a no brainer George. It's you. I want to come work with you at the shop"

For the second time that day George's eyes widened in shock and his mouth hung agape, once he recollected himself he raised a hand and pressed it to Hermione's forehead, making her giggle.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking to see if you have a temperature. You must be sick if you're willing to come work at this shop and leave your job at the Ministry"

Hermione shook her head, "I'm not sick. I want to help my family" She admitted with a small smile. "You and Fred always knew how to cheer me up and make me feel better, even if sometimes I scolded you for doing so. I want to help you rebuild everything that you've started. You're not alone George, and I know for a fact, your brothers and sister want to help to"

George sucked in a shaky breath as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair, he really couldn't believe just how much Hermione was willing to give up just to come and help him out, he couldn't put it into words just how much it meant to him, so instead of speaking he just pulled her into a tight hug and embraced her in silence for a few minutes.

When they pulled away Hermione saw the spark of light back in George's eyes, she couldn't help but smile at him as they both look towards the door. "You ready?"

"Truthfully no" George admitted, "But I still want to go in. Today's for Fred"

Hermione nodded in agreement, "For Fred"

As they went to step towards the door George stopped and looked down at his friend who he called his sister. "Thanks again Hermione, for everything. I can't tell you how much it means to me"

Hermione smiled and squeezed his hand, "This is what family is for George, now let's go in and start a chapter of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes"

Together they pushed the orange doors open, breathing in the smell of fresh smoke and the love potions, ready to begin their new adventure.

 


	28. Revenge - Fred, George, Hermione and Ginny

"Should we really be doing this?"

"After all the pranks we've pulled together, this is the one that makes you nervous?"

"It's not the prank that makes me nervous, it's the people we're pranking! You know how they are when they get mad"

"True, but just think of it as payback"

"For what?"

"For all the times they ever ruined our pranks"

Fred and George were hiding round the corner closest to Ginny's bathroom, watching and waiting for it's occupants to leave the premises so they could begin their plan. It had been a prank that had been in the works for weeks now, but they had just never had the right time usually Ginny was off with Harry and Hermione was often using her free time to go visit Charlie in Romania, the twins had a sneaky suspicion those two were more than friends and would get to the bottom of that eventually, but for now their first step of their plan was to get into that room and out again without being noticed.

George opened his mouth to say something again when the door finally opened, he promptly shut his mouth and watched as the two girls left the room, laughing and giggling at something. They waited until they had gotten to the bottom of the stairs and disappeared into the kitchen before making their move. They both tiptoed into Ginny's bathroom and locked the door, making sure to by themselves some time to get this done.

Fred turned around and his eyes widened at the various different coloured bottles that lay in the bathroom. "Uh, George? What one do we pick?"

George rolled his eyes, "Just pick the one that says shampoo or conditioner, duh"

Fred nodded before searching the different coloured potions, honestly how many did girls need? Surely they only needed a few, but this many? He shook his head in disbelief before managing to find a dark purple bottle which was labelled as shampoo, it also happened to be labelled as Hermione Granger's shampoo. "Perfect"

Together Fred and George both poured a different potion into the girl's shampoo, it deserved them right for trying to prank them before they left Hogwarts for Christmas, this would teach them not to mess with the prank lords.

"Done?" Fred asked

"Done" George confirmed

The twins unlocked the door and opened it silently to listen out for any incoming footsteps or voices, when all they heard was silence in return they then went to Ginny's door, pushing it open slightly they accioed a bucket and slime from their room before placing it carefully on top of her door. George chuckled as he made sure the bucket was in position before they retreated to their bedroom.

"Hermione will regret teaching us those muggle pranks" George grinned

Fred nodded, "I still can't believe that we managed to persuade her into showing us! I thought I would never see the day when Hermione Granger actually helped us out"

"True" George admitted, "But it happened and now we have a whole new branch of Weasley products to test on the first years. Granger can't get mad because they're not dangerous"

"Valid point Forge" Fred grinned.

The twins fell silent just as Ginny and Hermione began to make their way back upstairs armed with two mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies, they had been spending the majority of their Christmas holiday's together as they usually would but this time they had been reminiscing about the Hogwarts Gossip, the one they were currently engrossed in that was Lavender Brown was apparently in love with Professor Flitwick, which to be honest didn't really surprise Hermione or Ginny considering Lavender was boy crazy.

The boys peaked out of their bedroom door as Ginny flicked her wand to open the door, as they stepped through the bucket of slime that had been balancing carefully on the door, slipped from it's position and covered the unsuspecting witches in green slime. The plate of cookies and mugs of hot chocolate fell to the floor in a loud thump as the girls stared at each other in shock. Fred and George were barely silent for a minute before they erupted into laughter which alerted Hermione and Ginny to their presence.

"FRED! GEORGE! WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU" Ginny yelled, or tried to yell as the slime dripped into her mouth.

"Now, now sister dearest. That would be a shame" George grinned

"We are your favourite brothers after all, and we've taught you so much" Fred continued

"Killing us wouldn't really be repaying us, it would just cause us to haunt you for rest of your life"

"And you wouldn't want that would you?"

Hermione huffed in annoyance as she wiped the slime from her eyes, she stalked over to the two older boys, standing at her full height which was barely to their chin but still seemed menacing to them anyway and glared into their eyes. "I expected more of you two. After all your elaborate pranks this is the best you can come up with? This was....tame compared to your usual standards"

Fred and George both attempted to seem stunned by that accusation, when in face covering them both in slime had only been step one in their prank, step two would be once they both showered and covered their hair in shampoo, then the fun would really begin.

"You wound us Granger" George sighed and fell against Fred's shoulder, his hand pressed to his forehead as if he were a damsel in distress.

"How dare you call us tame! This is a catastrophe!"

"An outrage!"

"A complete and utter lie!"

"We will rectify this matter at once. Good day to you both!"

With that the twins shut their bedroom door in Hermione's face with an almighty slam, and for a second Hermione thought it might come off the hinges and actually hit her in the face but when it didn't she huffed again and spun round to march directly towards the bathroom to get herself cleaned up.

\-----------------

Fred and George were downstairs when it finally happened, the girls had spent the better half of an hour showering and trying to remove all the goo from themselves which actually seemed like an impossible task with Hermione's hair, it got tangled in places she never thought it could get tangled. As they sat in the kitchen and talked over a cup of coffee they could hear the footsteps coming in and out of various rooms, just when it seemed that they would have to intervene the noises from upstairs stopped. The house went completely silent, the twins stared at each other while identical grins spread across their faces.

"FRED!"

"GEORGE!"

Thundering footsteps were heard on the stops and in what seemed like seconds, the angry witches were in the door way glaring at the twins. As Fred took in the angry looks on both of their faces, he happened to notice that Hermione seemed to be the angriest, her eyes were narrowed into slits and her face was turning a very deep red while she stood with her hand on her hips. He let his gaze move from her face to her hair and within seconds he burst into laughter.

George soon followed suit as he finally looked at both Ginny and Hermione's hair, or should he say lack of hair. Hermione's hair had been turned a vibrant orange but rather than being styled in her usual loose curls she was now sporting a very adventurous Mohawk, with the back end being suspiciously styled into a tail of a dragon. While Ginny's usual dark orange hair which usually hung straight down her back, was now a Slytherin green but had pieces of gold through it which happened to be in the shape of a golden snitch.

"What have you done to our hair?" Hermione growled

"We don't know what you're talking about" Fred shrugged, sipping on his coffee with a mischievous glint in his eyes

"Oh you know exactly what we're talking about Fredrick Gideon Weasley" Ginny took a step closer to the table, an eerily calm expression on her face as she stared down her brothers.

George chuckled and leaned forward, clasping his hands together and resting them on front of him on the table. "Well since Hermione usually gives us such a hard time about testing our products on the younger generation, we thought we would try a different approach"

"And you thought testing your products out on us would be a smart idea?" Hermione questioned

Fred nodded, still grinning, "Naturally"

"You two are idiots! How could you do this to us? We look bloody ridiculous, not to mention that Harry and..." Ginny stopped before she could continue and glanced worriedly at Hermione who in return sent her a pointed look to not continue with her sentence

"Harry and who are doing what?" George perked up with interest, taking notice that Hermione was going even darker shade of red.

"Nothing! I just meant Harry and one of our friends are coming over and we're going to look horrible for them!"

Fred and George exchanged a look, their little sister was clearly not telling them something and that sparked their curiosity. "Sure Gin"

"If we're to believe that it's just Harry and one of your 'friends'" George air quoted at the word 'friends'. "Are coming by then we would just be as gullible as the toad believing that there was really a secret weapon in the forbidden forest!"

Ginny groaned, she hadn't meant to throw Hermione into the deep end but she had just been so angry at her brothers she didn't realise what she was saying. "It's none of your business! The big question right now is how long will this last?"

The twins shrugged, identical grins once again on their first. "Who knows" Fred sighed

"It could be minutes"

"Or an hour"

"Or 24 hours"

"Or a day"

"Or a month"

"Or..."

"WE GET IT!" The girls yelled in unison

Hermione stormed over to the table and grabbed Fred by the cuff of his shirt, her eyes blazing with anger and embarrassment. "If you don't change us back right now we'll tell your Mother"

Fred rolled his eyes, "Oh please Granger, back in school that would have worked on us. But we're grown men now, the threat of telling our Mother doesn't frighten us. Plus, it also helps that she's not currently at Home and won't be back for another day or two so you're out of luck"

Just as Hermione opened her mouth to speak, the sound of the floo activating in the liven room alerted them that someone had just entered the house, Hermione's eyes widened in surprise as the person she had been dying to see suddenly strolled through the door.

Much to the pleasant surprise and delight of Fred and George, their second eldest brother walked straight their door, confirming their suspicions that something more had indeed blossomed between the dragon tamer and the bookworm. To make it even better Hermione let out a high pitched squeak as she tried to cover hair.

Charlie was certainly glad to be home, it had been a tiring few weeks at the reserve in Romania after a new batch of eggs decided to hatch early, he was definitely in need of a holiday back home with his family, but what he was more in need of was getting to spend some more time with the young witch that had captivated his attention, so much so that he had a number of fresh new burns on his arms. But as he walked into the kitchen he didn't expect to be greeted by a green and gold haired Ginny and his girlfriend trying to hide her hair in embarrassment, he shouldn't have been so surprised though when he also found the twins sitting at the table in a fit of laughter

"What the hell is going on here?" Charlie strode towards Hermione, giving her a knowing smile as he tried to get a good look at her hair.

"Welcome home Charlie!" George greeted

"You're just in time..." Fred continued

"To witness our new product"

Charlie sighed, "What is it this time?"

"Well we came up with a new potion that can be mixed with shampoo or conditioner, you simple pour a little bit in, give it a good shake and leave it there for your suspect to use" Fred beamed, proud of their newest achievement.

"Then once they've used it within 10 minutes their hair will change, it can change into a different colour or style. Anything could happen! But what the real interesting thing is" George glanced at Hermione with a twinkle in his eye. "Is that whatever your hair changes into, will morph into the one thing that the person who are with or have a crush on, loves the most"

Hermione groaned, she just wished that the ground would open up and swallow her whole, she should have known that there was more to their prank. And they both clearly knew that there had been something going on with both her and Charlie, if they didn't then they surely knew now considering her hair was in the shape of a dragon's tail.

"Oh really?" Charlie hummed, his eyes darting to Hermione who was still trying to cover her hair, using his handler reflexes he quickly pulled Hermione's arms down, although he done this quite gently, to find that her hair had turned a bright orange and was in the shape of a dragon's tail. Charlie could feel his own face growing hot as he took it in, it was only a moment before a wide smile spread across his features.

"Wow" Charlie grinned, slowly turning Hermione on the spot so he could get a good look at her hair. "You really suit this Mione"

Hermione rolled her eyes and slapped his arm playfully, "No I don't" She pouted before turning back to the twins. "Can you please reverse it?"

Fred shook his head, "No can do! The potion has to wear off itself, should be...in an hour or so"

"An hour!" Hermione yelled before shoving her face into Charlie's chest, trying to take deep and calming breaths.

"You can't seriously tell us to stick this for an hour" Ginny whined

"You can't stick what?" Harry asked

In all the hustle and bustle of Charlie arriving and finding out about the twins latest prank, no one had heard the floo activating again and they definitely didn't notice the raven haired wizard entering the kitchen and being surprised to find his own girlfriend with green hair decorated with golden snitches.

"Don't look Harry! I'm hideous" Ginny tried to hide, but Harry being the quick one he is, gently grabbed her hand to stop her from running off, he drank the sight of her in before smiling and placing a sweet kiss to her forehead.

"Ginny, you can never look hideous. Plus, I kind of like the snitches" Harry smiled, raising a hand to softly stroke a stand of hair that a glimmer of snitch on it. Ginny blushed furiously, with one last glare at her brothers and an apologetic look at Hermione, she grabbed her boyfriends hand and disappeared into the living room.

"See Gred, our work here is done" George sighed happily before finishing off his coffee

"Too right, Forge, too right" Fred raised his cup in cheers before draining the last of his coffee.

As the twins stood to leave they both stared knowingly at Hermione and Charlie with knowing smiles, "We always thought something was up between you two. I don't think I can count how many times Hermione has been to visit you in Romania these last few weeks, Charlie"

Hermione flushed, and there she thought she had been discreet.

"Not to mention the very...adult letter she had sent you too" George grinned

Both Charlie and Hermione blushed once again, "How did you even see that!"

"That is why you shouldn't send Errol with the post Granger" Fred teased, "He sometimes gets mixed up with address'. I hadn't been paying attention to who it was addressed too so I just opened it up and began to read it. Who knew you had such an imagination"

"I...I..." Hermione tried to explain herself but for once in her life, she was at a loss for words.

Charlie chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist, "You don't need to tell them anything love, they're just messing with you"

"I know but it's embarrassing!" Hermione sighed, turning her attention to the twins who were now standing and putting on their travelling cloaks. "If you two ever pull something like this again I will gladly use a bat bogey hex on you both"

"Aye Aye Miss Granger!" George saluted, making Hermione laugh

The twins gathered their belongings and pulled on their cloaks, "Sadly we must take our leave. Work beckons of course, but we'll be back later so don't miss us too much!"

"Oh we won't" Charlie grinned, throwing a wink in Hermione's direction and for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, she turned red.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable now after seeing their brother openly trying to seduce the young witch they called their sister, the twins took their leave but not without getting their last say.

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do!"

"And use protection!"

Once they heard the sound of the fire burning and then going quiet Hermione was finally able to relax, with a smirk that could rival Draco Malfoy's she turned to her boyfriend. "I have an idea"

Charlie grinned, sensing the prankster in her coming out to play. "Oh really? And what might that be?"

"Revenge"


End file.
